Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 2004

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX

January 16, 2004Comal County, Williamson County, Texas

NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued this flash flood warning at Jan 16, 2004, 4:26 PM CST for Comal County, Williamson County, Texas. It was in force for 260 days. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jan 16, 2004, 4:26 PM CST (22:26 UTC)
Expired
Oct 2, 2004, 9:15 AM CDT
In force
260 days
Issued by
NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Comal County, TX, Williamson County, TX

The radar

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 23 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:28 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

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 241 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Corpus Christi, TX at 12:00Z on 2004-01-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 228 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Corpus Christi, TX at 12:00Z on 2004-01-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 111 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
228 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
617 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
111 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
153 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 KEWX 162229
FFWSAT
TXC491-170030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
426 PM CST FRI JAN 16 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...
  WILLIAMSON

* UNTIL 630 PM CST

* AT 426 PM...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED VERY HEAVY RAIN
  BETWEEN LIBERTY HILL AND FLORENCE.  THE RAINS WERE MOVING NORTH AT 
  20 MPH.  

  RAINFALL RATES OF 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR WERE NOTED AND WILL
  CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS.  RAINFALL EARLIER THIS 
  AFTERNOON AND THIS RAINFALL ARE BRINGING SOILS TO SATURATION
  CAUSING FASTER RUNOFF WITH FLASH FLOODING EXPECTED FOR THE NEXT 
  FEW HOURS LIKELY.

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.

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
  

LAT...LON 3068 9801 3054 9792 3082 9766 3090 9777

$$
1 follow-up statement
000 
WGUS54 KEWX 021110
FFWSAT
TXC091-021415-
/X.NEW.KEWX.FF.W.0003.041002T1109Z-041002T1415Z/
/0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
609 AM CDT SAT OCT 2 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN AUSTIN SAN ANTONIO HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...
  COMAL

* UNTIL 915 AM CDT

* AT 600 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED   
  VERY HEAVY RAIN FROM SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE WARNED     
  AREA.

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE SPRING BRANCH...SMITHSON VALLEY...
  GUADALUPE RIVER STATE PARK...FISCHER AND NEW BRAUNFELS.

HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING OVER SMALL CREEKS AND
STREAMS...URBAN AREAS...HIGHWAYS...STREETS...UNDERPASSES AND POORLY 
DRAINED AREAS.

FLASH FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS IMMINENT. MOST FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR
IN AUTOMOBILES. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS WATER COVERED AREAS. A LITTLE
OVER A FOOT OF WATER CAN CARRY AWAY MOST CARS AND TRUCKS. TURN AROUND
- DONT DROWN.

LAT...LON 2975 9864 3003 9830 2985 9805 2978 9801
      2976 9801 2969 9809 2966 9819 2960 9831
      2960 9833

$$

The office that day

Everything else NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 16, 3:40 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningEWXDeWitt, Gonzales, Kinney, Real, Uvalde255 days
Jan 16, 4:19 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningEWXBandera, Blanco, Gillespie, Hays, Kendall, Kerr and 2 more260 days
Jan 16, 5:39 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningEWXBastrop, Caldwell, DeWitt, Fayette, Gonzales, Lavaca and 1 more260 days
Jan 16, 5:55 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningEWXBexar, Guadalupe, Hays, Travis260 days
Jan 16, 5:59 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningEWXBurnet, DeWitt, Fayette, Gonzales, Lavaca, Llano and 1 more260 days

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 2004Every 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.