Alert archive / California / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003
Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Hanford, CA
NWS Hanford, CA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 20, 2003, 4:49 PM PDT for Kern County, California. It was in force for 3 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Aug 20, 2003, 4:49 PM PDT (23:49 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 20, 2003, 8:00 PM PDT
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Hanford, CA
- Area
- Counties, with a storm outline in the text
County Kern County, CA
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
Vandenberg AFB, CA (KVBG), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 202 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 959 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 26 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 86 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 76 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WGUS56 KHNX 202358 CCA FFWHNX CAC029-210300- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY CA 449 PM PDT WED AUG 20 2003 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HANFORD CA HAS ISSUED A * FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR... NORTH CENTRAL KERN COUNTY IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA * UNTIL 800 PM PDT * AT 438 PM PDT...WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED HEAVY RAIN IN LAKE ISABELLA. WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A STATIONARY THUNDERSTORM PROVIDING VERY HEAVY RAINFALL IN THE LAKE ISABELLA AREA. EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM THIS STORM WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING OF SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS...HIGHWAYS AND UNDERPASSES. ADDITIONALLY...COUNTRY ROADS AND FARMLANDS ALONG THE BANKS OF CREEKS AND STREAMS AND OTHER LOW LYING AREAS ARE SUBJECT TO FLASH FLOODING. A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR OCCURRING. IF YOU ARE IN THE WARNING AREA MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY. RESIDENTS LIVING ALONG STREAMS AND CREEKS SHOULD TAKE IMMEDIATE PRECAUTIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS SWIFTLY FLOWING WATERS OR WATERS OF UNKNOWN DEPTH BY FOOT OR BY AUTOMOBILE. IF YOUR VEHICLE STALLS, ABANDON IT IMMEDIATELY AND SEEK HIGHER GROUND. TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER HAVE THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE IN HANFORD CA. LAT...LON 3554 11869 3543 11857 3558 11826 3570 11843 $$ MV
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 Hanford, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Aug 20, 3:29 PM PDT, 1 hour 20 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 20, 3:29 PM PDT, 1 hour 20 minutes before
INTERIOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION...RETRANSMIT ONLY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY - HANFORD CA 200 PM PDT WED AUG 20 2003 KHNX 88D INDICATING CONVECTION BEGINNING NEAR THE SIERRA CREST. 18Z MESO IS STRONGER WITH CAPES OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND KERN DESERTS THAN PREVIOUS MODEL RUNS. INSTABILITY IS ALSO MORE PRONOUNCED WITH THE 18Z MESO AS LI/S ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS AND KERN DESERTS ARE PROGGED TO BE IN THE -1 TO -4 RANGE. THUNDERSTORMS HAVE ALREADY BEEN GOING ON FOR THE PAST COUPLE OF HOURS OVER SOUTHERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY...AND WV LOOP INDICATING ADDITIONAL MOISTURE IS ON IT/S WAY FROM THE SOUTHEAST...SO WILL KEEP MENTION OF ISOLATED TO SCATTERED T-STORMS ACROSS THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS FOR TONIGHT. THE OFFSHORE CUTOFF LOW WHICH HAS BEEN OUR MAIN WEATHER FEATURE...HAS ACTUALLY BEEN RETROGRADING TODAY...WHICH IS NOTHING NEW AS THE 12Z AND 18Z MESO... AS WELL AS THE 12Z GFS...HAVE BEEN INDICATING THIS HAPPENING. THE LOW IS EXPECTED TO MAKE AN EASTWARD TURN THURSDAY AS IT GETS SCOOPED UP BY AN OPEN WAVE TROUGH WHICH WILL TURN THE UPPER FLOW OVER CENTRAL CA TO THE SOUTH THEN TO THE SOUTHWEST. THE TIMING OF THIS TAKING PLACE WILL BE CRITICAL IN TERMS OF CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT THURSDAY. AT THIS TIME WITH CONFIDENCE LOW...WILL KEEP MENTION OF ISOLATED TO SCATTERED POPS ACROSS THE ENTIRE CWFA THURSDAY...IN CASE OF A SLOWER TIMING. TEMPERATURES THURSDAY WILL BE HIGHLY DEPENDENT ON THE AMOUNT OF CLOUD COVER THAT SPREADS ACROSS THE AREA. COMPROMISED BETWEEN MET AND MAV TEMPERATURE GUIDANCE. AS THE TROUGH SWINGS BY ACROSS NORCAL FRIDAY... EXPECT SURFACE P-GRADS TO STRENGTHEN ENOUGH TO ALLOW FOR SOME MARINE AIR TO SPILL INTO THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY. MEANWHILE...HIGHER ELEVATIONS WILL BEGIN TO WARM UP AS SKIES CLEAR OUT. HIGH PRESSURE IS EXPECTED TO BUILD INTO CENTRAL CA FROM THE DESERTS SOUTHWEST FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY FOR MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES AND A DRYING TREND. IN THE EXTENDED-FORECAST PERIOD...SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...THE MEDIUM-RANGE MODELS ARE IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH A WEAK SHORT-WAVE TROUGH MOVING INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST EARLY NEXT WEEK...ALTHOUGH THERE ARE MINOR TIMING DIFFERENCES. THE TROUGH WILL HAVE LITTLE IMPACT ON THE STRONG UPPER-LEVEL RIDGE OVER MUCH OF THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES. 500-MB HEIGHTS ARE FORECAST TO REMAIN ABOVE 5880 METERS THROUGH THE PERIOD...WITH DRY WEATHER AND ABOVE-NORMAL HIGH TEMPERATURES. BY MIDWEEK...THE GFS HAS A STRONGER SHORT-WAVE TROUGH DROPPING OUT OF THE GULF OF ALASKA INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. THIS TROUGH IS FORECAST TO WEAKEN THE RIDGE FOR THE LATTER HALF OF THE WEEK. THE GFS FORECASTS SOME HIGH-LEVEL MOISTURE TO WRAP AROUND THE RIDGE INTO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BEGINNING TUESDAY...SO HAVE INCREASED CLOUD COVER OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS FOR SOME CIRRUS PER NEIGHBORING OFFICES. .HNX...NONE. DS/SANGER
Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 20, 5:30 AM PDT, 11 hours 19 minutes before
CAZ089>099-211230- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HANFORD CA 530 AM PDT WED AUG 20 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR. .DAY ONE...TODAY. THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON AND A SLIGHT CHANCE IN THE EVENING FOR THE SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON...FOR THE TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS...FOR THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND THE SOUTHEASTERN KERN COUNTY DESERT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST...FOR THURSDAY FOR THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY, THE FRESNO COUNTY AND TULARE COUNTY FOOTHILLS, THE KERN COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND THE KERN COUNTY DESERT...THERE IS A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS...FOR THURSDAY FOR THE SIERRA NEVADA FROM YOSEMITE TO KINGS CANYON, THE TULARE COUNTY MOUNTAINS AND THE SOUTHEASTERN KERN COUNTY DESERT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS TO THEIR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE.
Nearby
Flash Flood Warnings in California, 2003Every 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.