Alert archive / New York / Flash Flood Warnings in 2004

Flash Flood Warning 10, NWS Buffalo, NY

May 23, 2004Cattaraugus County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this flash flood warning at May 23, 2004, 5:53 AM EDT for Cattaraugus County, New York. It was in force for 2 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: May 23, 2004, 5:53 AM EDT (09:53 UTC)
Expired: May 23, 2004, 8:00 AM EDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Buffalo, NY
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Cattaraugus County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:54 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

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 00:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 59 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: 1116 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -27 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 993 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 216 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 238 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.1
Supercell composite: 3.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS51 KBUF 230954
FFWBUF
NYC009-231200-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
553 AM EDT SUN MAY 23 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  CATTARAUGUS COUNTY IN WESTERN NEW YORK

* UNTIL 800 AM EDT

* AT 549 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  FLASH FLOODING FROM A THUNDERSTORM 11 MILES SOUTHWEST OF GOWANDA...
  OR ABOUT 13 MILES EAST OF FREDONIA...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING FLASH FLOODING WILL BE NEAR...
  PERRYSBURG AT 605 AM EDT...
  GOWANDA AT 610 AM EDT...
  CATTARAUGUS AT 615 AM EDT...
  OTTO AT 625 AM EDT...

THUNDERSTORMS EARLIER THIS MORNING PRODUCED UP TO THREE QUARTERS 
INCH OF RAINFALL AND AN ADDITIONAL INCH TO AN INCH AN A HALF OF RAIN 
IS POSSIBLE FROM THIS STORM. 

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLOODING OF SMALL
CREEKS AND STREAMS...COUNTRY ROADS...AS WELL AS FARMLAND ALONG THE
BANKS OF CREEKS AND STREAMS.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS
SAFELY. VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED QUICKLY.
MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

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.

LAT...LON 4243 7904 4249 7898 4244 7891 4247 7871
          4252 7833 4233 7836 4232 7861 4230 7883
          4229 7904

$$

LEVAN

2 follow-up statements

000 
WGUS71 KBUF 231122
FFSBUF
NYC009-231200-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
722 AM EDT SUN MAY 23 2004

...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 800 AM EDT FOR CATTARAUGUS
COUNTY...

AT 713 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO 
INDICATE THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING FLASH FLOODING.  THE HEAVIEST STORMS 
WERE LOCATED FROM SOUTH DAYTON TO ELLICOTTVILLE AND FRANKLINVILLE.  
THEY WERE MOVING EAST SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLOODING OF SMALL 
CREEKS AND STREAMS...COUNTRY ROADS...AS WELL AS FARMLAND ALONG THE 
BANKS OF CREEKS AND STREAMS.

LAT...LON 4243 7904 4249 7898 4244 7891 4247 7871
          4252 7833 4233 7836 4232 7861 4230 7883
          4229 7904

$$

SAGE

000 
WGUS71 KBUF 231206
FFSBUF
NYC009-231200-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
806 AM EDT SUN MAY 23 2004

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR CATTARAUGUS COUNTY EXPIRED AT 800 
AM...

FLOODING HAS NOT BEEN REPORTED AS OF YET BUT RADAR ESTIMATES 
INDICATED AS MUCH AS 1.5 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN NEAR SOUTH DAYTON.

THE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE BECOME MUCH LIGHTER IN THE PAST HOUR. 

LAT...LON 4243 7904 4249 7898 4244 7891 4247 7871
          4252 7833 4233 7836 4232 7861 4230 7883
          4229 7904

$$

SAGE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Buffalo, NY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 22, 8:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Ontario	60 min
May 22, 10:02 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BUF	Livingston, Ontario	4 hr
May 22, 10:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Genesee, Livingston, Monroe	49 min
May 23, 12:20 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BUF	Allegany, Cattaraugus	4 hr
May 23, 6:26 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BUF	Chautauqua, Erie	3 hr
May 23, 2:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Chautauqua	44 min
May 23, 3:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Cattaraugus, Chautauqua	65 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New York, 2004 Every flash flood warning in 2004

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.