Alert archive / California / Flash Flood Warnings in 2004

Flash Flood Warning 4, NWS Phoenix, AZ

August 15, 2004Riverside County, California; Maricopa County, Arizona

NWS Phoenix, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Aug 15, 2004, 1:30 PM PDT for Riverside County, California; Maricopa County, Arizona. It was in force for 35 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: Aug 15, 2004, 1:30 PM PDT (20:30 UTC)
Expired: Sep 19, 2004, 2:30 PM PDT
In force: 35 days
Issued by: NWS Phoenix, AZ
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Maricopa County, AZ, Riverside County, CA

The radar

The San Diego radar (KNKX), 160 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:33 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

San Diego, CA (KNKX), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 180 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1030 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 17 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 0 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 
WGUS55 KPSR 152035
FFWPSR
CAC065-152230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
130 PM PDT SUN AUG 15 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PHOENIX HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  NORTH CENTRAL RIVERSIDE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA
  SPECIFICALLY THE NORTH CENTRAL PORTION OF JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK

* UNTIL 330 PM PDT

* AT 128 PM PDT...THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WERE OCCURRING  
  OVER THE NORTH CENTRAL PORTION OF JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK        
  ...ABOUT 15 MILES SOUTH OF TWENTYNINE PALMS. STORMS WERE SHOWING   
  LITTLE MOVEMENT. 

* THE STORM PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAIN WILL OTHERWISE REMAIN OVER     
  NORTH-CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST PORTIONS OF JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL       
  PARK...INCLUDING ARCH ROCK AND SPLIT ROCK. FLASH FLOODING WILL BE  
  POSSIBLE OVER THE ROAD SOUTH OF THE NORTH ENTRANCE TO THE PARK.
  STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE IN THIS AREA. 


LAT...LON 3403 11609 3403 11583 3398 11570 3396 11561
      3392 11565 3384 11568 3378 11573 3396 11614

$$

DG

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS55 KPSR 192045
FFWPSR
AZC013-192130-
/X.NEW.KPSR.FF.W.0004.040919T2038Z-040919T2130Z/
/0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
138 PM MST SUN SEP 19 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PHOENIX HAS EXTENDED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  NORTH CENTRAL MARICOPA COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA 
  THIS INCLUDES NEW RIVER...FAR NORTH PHOENIX...CAVE 
  CREEK...CAREFREE...AND THE SURROUNDING MOUNTAINS.

* UNTIL 230 PM MST

* AT 131 PM MST... A NEW AREA OF HEAVY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WAS
  MOVING INTO THE AREA WITH RAINFALL RATES OF 1 INCH PER HOUR.

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO NEW RIVER 
  AND SURROUNDING AREAS.

HEAVY RUNOFF WAS REPORTED DRAINING FROM THE MOUNTAINS NORTH OF NEW 
RIVER AND CAVE CREEK. SKUNK CREEK WAS FLOWING HEAVILY. A COUPLE OF 
ROAD CLOSURES WERE REPORTED AROUND THE TOWNS OF NEW RIVER AND DESERT 
HILLS.

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLOODING OF SMALL 
CREEKS...STREAMS...AND COUNTRY ROADS.

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 3378 11233 3373 11187 3398 11180 3401 11211

$$

HV

The office that day

Everything else NWS Phoenix, AZ issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 15, 4:05 PM PDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PSR	Maricopa	55 min
Aug 15, 4:27 PM PDT	Flash Flood Warning	PSR	Maricopa	63 min
Aug 15, 4:57 PM PDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PSR	La Paz, Maricopa	63 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in California, 2004 Flash Flood Warnings in Arizona, 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.