Alert archive / Texas / Red Flag Warnings in 2011

Red Flag Warning 8, NWS Brownsville, TX

May 3, 20115 counties in Texas

NWS Brownsville, TX issued this red flag warning at May 3, 2011, 1:51 PM CDT for 5 counties in Texas. It took effect at May 3, 2011, 2:00 PM CDT. It was in force for 4 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 3, 2011, 1:51 PM CDT (18:51 UTC)
In effect from
May 3, 2011, 2:00 PM CDT
Expired
May 3, 2011, 6:00 PM CDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS Brownsville, TX

Counties Brooks County, TX, Hidalgo County, TX, Jim Hogg County, TX, Starr County, TX, Zapata County, TX

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 153 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:50 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

Brownsville Intl, TX (KBRO), launched 12:00Z, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 156 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, Brownsville Intl, TX at 12:00Z on 2011-05-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Brownsville Intl, TX at 12:00Z on 2011-05-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -55 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
736 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-55 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
55 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.

631 
WWUS84 KBRO 031851
RFWBRO

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
151 PM CDT TUE MAY 3 2011

...RAPIDLY LOWERING RELATIVE HUMIDITY AND BRISK WINDS THE
REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON...

.DEW POINTS CONTINUE TO LOWER AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY IS CRASHING AS
VERY DRY AIR ALOFT MIXES TO THE SURFACE THIS AFTERNOON. HIGH
PRESSURE REMAIN NORTH OF DEEP SOUTH TEXAS IS MAINTAINING A
MODERATELY STRONG PRESSURE GRADIENT ALLOWING WINDS TO INCREASE
DURING THE AFTERNOON HEATING. THE COMBINATION OF THE BRISK WINDS
AND LOW HUMIDITY IS PRODUCING HIGH TO NEAR CRITICAL FIRE DANGER
CONDITIONS ALONG AND WEST OF HIGHWAY 281. 

TXZ248>250-252-253-032300-
/O.NEW.KBRO.FW.W.0008.110503T1900Z-110503T2300Z/
ZAPATA-JIM HOGG-BROOKS-STARR-HIDALGO-
151 PM CDT TUE MAY 3 2011

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR
GUSTY WINDS AND LOW HUMIDITY FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONES 248...249...
250...252 AND 253...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BROWNSVILLE HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CDT THIS EVENING. 

RELATIVE HUMIDITY BETWEEN 10 AND 25 PERCENT AND NORTH WINDS OF 15
TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 25 MPH WILL COMBINE WITH EXTREMELY DRY
FUELS TO PRODUCE HIGH TO NEAR CRITICAL FIRE DANGER THE REST OF THE 
AFTERNOON.


PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE
OCCURRING NOW...OR WILL SHORTLY. THESE CONDITIONS INCLUDE
SUSTAINED 20 FOOT WINDS OF 25 MPH OR GREATER AND CURED FUELS...OR
THE COMBINATION OF RELATIVE HUMIDITY BELOW 35 PERCENT FOR 2 HOURS
OR MORE AND SUSTAINED 20 FOOT WINDS OF 25 MPH OR HIGHER WHEN
FUELS ARE NOT CURED. THESE CONDITIONS WILL CREATE EXPLOSIVE FIRE
GROWTH POTENTIAL.

&&

$$

The office that day

Everything else NWS Brownsville, TX issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 3, 2:23 AM CDTSmall Craft Advisory for WindsBRO8 hr

Nearby

Red Flag Warnings in Texas, 2011Every red flag warning in 2011

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.