Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 28, NWS Houston/Galveston, TX

October 9, 2003Galveston County, Texas

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued this flash flood warning at Oct 9, 2003, 7:04 PM CDT for Galveston County, Texas. It was in force for 116 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Oct 9, 2003, 7:04 PM CDT (00:04 UTC)
Expired: Oct 9, 2003, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 116 min
Issued by: NWS Houston/Galveston, TX
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Galveston County, TX

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this flash flood warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The nearest sounding before it

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 00:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 200 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 36 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -65 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 636 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 114 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 184 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
WGUS54 KHGX 100006
FFWHOU
TXC167-100200-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
704 PM CDT THU OCT 9 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LEAGUE CITY HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN GALVESTON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS

* UNTIL 900 PM CDT

* AT 658 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED VERY HEAVY RAINFALL ALONG 
AN ALVIN TO FRIENDSWOOD TO BACLIFF LINE. THIS AXIS OF HEAVY RAIN 
WILL SLIDE SLOWLY SOUTH OVER THE NEXT 90 MINUTES. AN ADDITIONAL 2 TO 
3 INCHES OF RAIN IS EXPECTED BY 830 PM. 

* FLOODING IS EXPECTED IN OR NEAR...
  TEXAS CITY...SANTA FE...LEAGUE CITY...DICKINSON

DO NOT CROSS ANY LOCATION WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD

PLEASE REPORT FLOODING TO THE COUNTY SHERIFF...LOCAL POLICE...OR
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY. THEY WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

LAT...LON 2945 9521 2936 9514 2940 9496 2952 9503
          2950 9513 2952 9521

$$

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Oct 9, 3:37 PM CDT, 3 hours 27 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 9, 3:37 PM CDT, 3 hours 27 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
337 PM CDT THU OCT 9 2003

DONT HAVE A LOT OF TIME TO WRITE TODAY...SO ITLL BE QUICK.

SHORT WAVE CURRENTLY MOVING ESE ACROSS OUR CWA WITH WIDESPREAD
MODERATE TO OCCASIONALLY HEAVY RAIN PREVAILING. BELIEVE THE THREAT
OF SOME ADDITIONAL LOW TOP SPINNERS IS GOING DOWN AS I TYPE BASED ON
OUR LATEST VWP. ADDITIONAL SCT PRECIP IS BEGINNING TO DEVELOP TO
OUR WEST AND SOUTH WHERE BREAKS OF SUNSHINE HAVE ALLOWED TEMPS TO
CLIMB INTO THE MID 80S. APPEARS RAINFALL WILL MOSTLY END FROM WEST
TO EAST DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS.

DONT THINK LLVLS OF THE ATMOS WILL DRY OUT ALL THAT MUCH IN THE
WAKE OF THE PASSING SHORTWAVE...ESP SW ZONES. WILL MAINTAIN 20-40%
POPS FOR FRI. NEXT FRONT/WIND SHIFT FORECAST ON SUNDAY. THIS SYSTEM
DOES NOT APPEAR ALL THAT IMPRESSIVE TEMPERATURE-WISE NOR DOES IT DRY
US OUT ALL THAT MUCH EITHER. STRONGER FRONT LOOKS TO ARRIVE NEXT
TUESDAY. SO OVERALL...LOWISH POPS REMAIN IN THE FCST FOR THE NEXT
5-7 DAYS.

SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL THE MEDIA OUTLETS AND SPOTTERS THAT RELAYED
REPORTS TO US EARLIER THIS MORNING THOSE TYPE OF STORMS ARE WHAT WE
TYPICALLY SEE IN THE SUMMER MONTHS DURING THE MORNING HOURS THAT
MANY TIMES PRODUCE FUNNELS/WATERSPOUTS AND ARE A BEAR TO WARN ON.
THE REPORTS REALLY HELPED OUT...

47/45

.HGX...NONE.

CLL BB 069/084 067/084 065 521
IAH EB 071/082 068/084 066 832
GLS EB 075/081 074/082 073 842

Hazardous weather outlook, Oct 9, 3:50 PM CDT, 3 hours 14 minutes before

GMZ330-335-350-355-370-375-TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-
227-235>238-100500-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
350 PM CDT THU OCT 9 2003

...HEAVY RAINFALL THREAT THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS......

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT.
RAIN WITH EMBEDDED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORM WILL CONTINUE ALONG A
WEAK BOUNDARY FROM THE NAVASOTA AREA TO LAKE HOUSTON TO BEAUMONT
AREA. AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE EAST OVER THE BOUNDARY
FOCUSING THE HEAVIER RAINFALL AS IT MOVES EAST THIS EVENING.
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE INTO PORTIONS OF THE
AREA FROM THE SOUTHWEST AS WELL THOUGH ACCUMULATIONS FROM THESE
SHOULD BE LESS.

RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 INCH WILL BE FAIRLY COMMON WITH ISOLATED
AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 4 INCHES POSSIBLE IN MAINLY HARRIS...MONTGOMERY...AND
LIBERTY COUNTIES.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Houston/Galveston, TX issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 9, 8:10 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	HGX	Brazoria	2 hr
Oct 9, 8:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Brazoria	46 min
Oct 9, 9:10 PM CDT	Special Marine Warning	HGX		65 min
Oct 9, 10:22 PM CDT	Special Marine Warning	HGX		113 min
Oct 9, 10:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	HGX	Galveston	37 min
Oct 10, 12:31 AM CDT	Special Marine Warning	HGX		59 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 2003 Every flash flood warning in 2003

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.