Alert archive / California / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 11, NWS Las Vegas, NV

July 31, 2003Inyo County, California

NWS Las Vegas, NV issued this flash flood warning at Jul 31, 2003, 3:41 AM PDT for Inyo County, California. It was in force for 79 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: Jul 31, 2003, 3:41 AM PDT (10:41 UTC)
Expired: Jul 31, 2003, 5:00 AM PDT
In force: 79 min
Issued by: NWS Las Vegas, NV
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Inyo County, CA

The radar

The San Joaquin Valley radar (KHNX), 138 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:42 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Mercury/Desert R, NV (KDRA), launched 00:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 190 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: 257 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -166 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2402 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 88 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS55 KVEF 311041
FFWVEF
CAC027-311200-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
341 AM PDT THU JUL 31 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAS VEGAS HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  WEST CENTRAL INYO COUNTY IN EASTERN CALIFORNIA

* UNTIL 500 AM PDT

* AT 336 AM PDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN ALONG THE EAST SIDE OF THE 
  SIERRAS...OR ALONG HIGHWAY 395...MOVING NORTHWEST AT 15 MPH. AT 
  327 AM...A ROCKSLIDE OR MUDSLIDE WAS REPORTED ON HIGHWAY 395 
  BETWEEN LONE PINE AND CARTAGO. THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO 
  AFFECT HIGHWAY 395 BETWEEN LONE PINE AND THE HAIWEE RESERVOIR 
  THROUGH 4 AM...WITH RAINFALL TAPERING OFF AFTER 4 AM. 
  HOWEVER...RUNOFF DOWN THE MOUNTAIN SLOPES MAY CONTINUE UNTIL 5 AM.

* THE THUNDERSTORMS WITH EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL BE...
  OVER RURAL WESTERN INYO COUNTY THROUGH 415 AM PDT

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED ACT
QUICKLY. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS.

NEVER DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY.
IT ONLY TAKES A FOOT OR TWO OF FLOWING WATER TO WASH MOST CARS AWAY.
VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED QUICKLY.

LAT...LON 3599 11803 3601 11783 3687 11821 3684 11839
          3628 11806

$$

The office that day

Everything else NWS Las Vegas, NV issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 31, 10:09 AM PDT	Flash Flood Warning	VEF	Inyo	3 hr
Jul 31, 2:20 PM PDT	Flash Flood Warning	VEF	San Bernardino	115 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in California, 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.