Alert archive / New York / Flash Flood Warnings in 2008

Flash Flood Warning 10, NWS Buffalo, NY

August 15, 2008Erie County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this flash flood warning at Aug 15, 2008, 4:29 PM EDT for Erie County, New York. It was in force for 92 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: Aug 15, 2008, 4:29 PM EDT (20:29 UTC)
Expired: Aug 15, 2008, 6:01 PM EDT
In force: 92 min
Issued by: NWS Buffalo, NY
Area: Storm-based polygon
Flood severity: None

County Erie County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 6 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:31 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 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 7 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: 39 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -94 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1175 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -21 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 
WGUS51 KBUF 152029
FFWBUF
NYC029-152330-
/O.NEW.KBUF.FF.W.0010.080815T2029Z-080815T2330Z/
/00000.0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
429 PM EDT FRI AUG 15 2008

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN ERIE COUNTY IN WESTERN NEW YORK...
  THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF...WILLIAMSVILLE...WEST SENECA...
  LANCASTER...LACKAWANNA...KENMORE...DEPEW...CHEEKTOWAGA...BUFFALO...

* UNTIL 730 PM EDT

* AT 422 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED   
  A THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL NEAR DEPEW...AND MOVING    
  VERY SLOWLY EAST AT 10 MPH. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED  
  TO DEVELOP AND TRACK ALONG A LINE FROM BUFFALO TO CHEEKTOWAGA...   
  LANCASTER...DEPEW...AND MARILLA. THESE STORMS MAY PRODUCE UP TO 2  
  INCHES OF RAIN PER HOUR...WITH TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF UP TO 3   
  INCHES POSSIBLE IN LOCALIZED AREAS.

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLOODING OF SMALL
CREEKS AND STREAMS...URBAN AREAS...HIGHWAYS...STREETS AND UNDERPASSES
AS WELL AS OTHER DRAINAGE AREAS AND LOW LYING SPOTS.

FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS IMMINENT. MOST FLOOD RELATED DEATHS OCCUR
IN AUTOMOBILES. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS WATER COVERED BRIDGES...
DIPS...OR LOW WATER CROSSINGS. NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...
EVEN A SMALL ONE...ON FOOT. REMEMBER...TURN AROUND DONT DROWN

LAT...LON 4303 7847 4281 7849 4280 7887 4282 7887
      4282 7888 4285 7887 4291 7892 4294 7892
      4297 7894

$$

HITCHCOCK

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KBUF 152201
FFSBUF

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
601 PM EDT FRI AUG 15 2008

NYC029-152210-
/O.CAN.KBUF.FF.W.0010.000000T0000Z-080815T2330Z/
/00000.0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/
ERIE NY-
601 PM EDT FRI AUG 15 2008

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR NORTHERN ERIE
COUNTY...

AT 600 PM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED THAT THE
THUNDERSTORMS THAT PROMPTED THE WARNING HAD WEAKENED...THUS THE 
FLOOD WARNING HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

PONDING OF LOW LYING AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR
AWHILE UNTIL THE WATER HAS TIME TO RUN OFF.

LAT...LON 4303 7847 4281 7849 4280 7887 4282 7887
      4282 7888 4285 7887 4291 7892 4294 7892
      4297 7894

$$

TMA

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 15, 1:28 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Erie	47 min
Aug 15, 1:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Jefferson	34 min
Aug 15, 1:51 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	BUF		54 min
Aug 15, 2:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Erie	53 min
Aug 15, 2:47 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	BUF		33 min
Aug 15, 3:15 PM EDT	Areal Flood Advisory	BUF	Erie	3 hr
Aug 15, 3:44 PM EDT	Areal Flood Advisory	BUF	Oswego	91 min
Aug 15, 4:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Erie, Niagara	55 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New York, 2008 Every flash flood warning in 2008

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.