Alert archive / New York / Flash Flood Warnings in 2004

Flash Flood Warning 7, NWS Buffalo, NY

May 21, 2004Chautauqua County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this flash flood warning at May 21, 2004, 5:45 AM EDT for Chautauqua County, New York. 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: May 21, 2004, 5:45 AM EDT (09:45 UTC)
Expired: May 21, 2004, 8:45 AM EDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Buffalo, NY
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Chautauqua County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 113 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:49 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, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 113 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: 1163 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 875 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 284 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 339 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.2
Supercell composite: 9.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS51 KBUF 210950
FFWBUF
NYC013-211245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
545 AM EDT FRI MAY 21 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 845 AM EDT

* AT 544 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  VERY HEAVY RAIN FROM A THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF JAMESTOWN
  WEST...OR ABOUT 8 MILES SOUTHWEST OF JAMESTOWN...MOVING EAST AT 20
  MPH.

* THE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAIN WILL BE OVER...
  SOUTHERN CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS.

RADAR SHOWS THAT CLOSE TO 3 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN NEAR THE 
PENNSYLVANIA BORDER SOUTHWEST OF JAMESTOWN IN THE PAST 3 HOURS.  
MORE RAIN IS MOVING IN FROM THE NORTH WHICH COULD INCREASE RUNOFF.  
BROKENSTRAW CREEK AND BROWNELL BRANCH ARE IN THE AREA OF HEAVY RAIN. 

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.

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 4201 7939 4200 7975 4212 7976 4212 7928
          4212 7907 4200 7907 4200 7938

$$

APB

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KBUF 211203
FFSBUF
NYC013-211245-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
802 AM EDT FRI MAY 21 2004

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY IS CANCELLED...

THE THUNDERSTORMS THAT PRODUCED THE TORRENTIAL RAINFALL HAVE MOVED 
SOUTH OF THE AREA.

LAT...LON 4201 7939 4200 7975 4212 7976 4212 7928
          4212 7907 4200 7907 4200 7938

$$

NIZIOL

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 20, 8:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Genesee	31 min
May 20, 8:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Livingston	65 min
May 21, 12:56 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BUF	Allegany	2 hr
May 21, 2:25 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Cattaraugus, Chautauqua	50 min
May 21, 2:28 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Chautauqua	47 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.