Alert archive / Washington / Flash Flood Warnings in 2012

Flash Flood Warning 1, NWS Pendleton, OR

July 17, 2012Yakima County, Washington

NWS Pendleton, OR issued this flash flood warning at Jul 17, 2012, 4:25 PM PDT for Yakima County, Washington. It was in force for 2 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: Jul 17, 2012, 4:25 PM PDT (23:25 UTC)
Expired: Jul 17, 2012, 6:30 PM PDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS Pendleton, OR
Area: Storm-based polygon
Flood severity: None

County Yakima County, WA

The radar

The Portland,OR radar (KRTX), 163 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:28 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.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this flash flood warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The nearest sounding before it

Salem/Mcnary, OR (KSLE), launched 12:00Z, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 233 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: 942 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 135 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

027 
WGUS56 KPDT 172325
FFWPDT
WAC077-180130-
/O.NEW.KPDT.FF.W.0001.120717T2325Z-120718T0130Z/
/00000.0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
425 PM PDT TUE JUL 17 2012

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PENDLETON HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN YAKIMA COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON...

* UNTIL 630 PM PDT

* AT 418 PM PDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED   
FLASH FLOODING FROM THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE WARNED AREA. THESE STORMS 
ARE NEARLY STATIONARY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

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.

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. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

IN HILLY TERRAIN THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF LOW WATER CROSSINGS WHICH ARE
POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS IN HEAVY RAIN. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TRAVEL ACROSS
FLOODED ROADS. FIND ALTERNATE ROUTES. IT TAKES ONLY A FEW INCHES OF
SWIFTLY FLOWING WATER TO CARRY VEHICLES AWAY.

&&

LAT...LON 4702 12114 4695 12107 4605 12134 4604 12153
      4639 12154 4640 12140 4652 12147 4661 12140
      4668 12142 4671 12137 4674 12144 4679 12146
      4708 12135 4709 12130

$$

DC

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Pendleton, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jul 17, 2:25 PM PDT, 2 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 17, 2:25 PM PDT, 2 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
225 PM PDT TUE JUL 17 2012

CORRECTED AVIATION DISCUSSION

.SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT...AN UPPER LOW OVER
EXTREME NORTHWEST CALIFORNIA WILL REMAIN IN PLACE THROUGH WEDNESDAY
NIGHT. THIS SYSTEM NOW LOOKS TO BEGIN TO SHIFT NORTH AND OPEN
THURSDAY, THEN BEGIN TO KICK NORTHEAST THURSDAY NIGHT. THIS SYSTEM
WILL CONTINUE TO PUMP MOIST, UNSTABLE AIR INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
THROUGHOUT THIS PERIOD. THE MOISTURE LEVELS WILL DEEPEN SLIGHTLY ON
THURSDAY AS THE FLOW PULLS IN REMNANT MOISTURE FROM TROPICAL STORM
FABIO. PERIODS OF ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE
TO OCCUR THROUGH THE PERIOD. SINCE THE AIR MASS OVER THE REGION WILL
CONTINUE TO BE UNUSUALLY MOIST, SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD PRODUCE
VERY HEAVY RAIN IN SHORT PERIODS OF TIME. THEREFORE WILL EXTEND THE
CURRENT FLASH FLOOD WATCH INTO FRIDAY MORNING. SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY
WINDS MAY ALSO BE PRODUCED BY STRAY STORMS. EXPECT OVERNIGHT TEMPS
TO BE MILD, WHILE HIGH TEMPS WILL BE WARM THOUGH SOME AREAS MAY BE
COOLER THAN EXPECTED DUE TO OCCASIONAL CLOUD COVER. 90

.LONG TERM...FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT...THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM
WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA ON FRIDAY...EXITING THE REGION BY FRIDAY
NIGHT. THIS WILL LEAD TO A DECREASE IN THE UNSETTLED CONDITIONS.
WITH A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IN SOUTHERN CANADA AND A HIGH PRESSURE
RIDGE TO THE SOUTH...THE REGION WILL BE UNDER A WESTERLY FLOW
THROUGH THE WEEKEND AND INTO THE NEW WEEK. THIS WILL LEAD TO DRY AND
WARM CONDITIONS FOR THE REGION. DMH

&&

.AVIATION...00Z TAFS...THUNDERSTORMS ARE DEVELOPING AGAIN THIS
AFTERNOON AND ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING. MOST TAF SITES HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR THUNDERSTORMS WITH
KPDT...KALW AND KPSC BEING THE TAF SITES MORE LIKELY TO SEE THEM.
HAVE INCLUDED VCTS IN THESE LOCATIONS WITH VCSH MENTIONED FOR THE
REMAINING SITES THAT HAVE LOWER CHANCES (THOUGH CAN NOT RULE OUT
THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO THOSE AREAS). THESE STORMS WILL CONTAIN
BRIEF VERY HEAVY RAIN WHICH MAY LOWER VISIBILITIES TO THE MVFR
CATEGORY. OTHERWISE... CONDITIONS WILL BE VFR OVER THE REGION
THROUGH THE PERIOD. WINDS WILL BE LESS THAN 15 KTS ACROSS THE
REGION...BUT BRIEF GUSTY WINDS ARE POSSIBLE NEAR THUNDERSTORMS.
STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DECREASE OVERNIGHT...BUT ARE POSSIBLE AGAIN
TOMORROW AFTERNOON. DMH

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
PDT  62  88  62  88 /  30  20  20  30
ALW  67  91  67  91 /  30  20  20  30
PSC  64  93  63  93 /  30  20  20  30
YKM  63  92  61  93 /  30  20  20  20
HRI  63  92  63  92 /  30  20  20  30
ELN  65  92  63  93 /  30  20  20  20
RDM  55  81  53  83 /  40  40  40  30
LGD  58  88  56  88 /  30  30  30  20
GCD  57  88  56  88 /  40  30  30  30
DLS  67  88  66  88 /  30  20  20  20

&&

.PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING
     ORZ041-042-044-049-050-502-503-505>509.

WA...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING WAZ024-026>030-520-521.

&&

THREAT INDEX
WEDNESDAY : YELLOW
THURSDAY : YELLOW
FRIDAY : GREEN

GREEN: NONE OR LIMITED NEED FOR WATCHES, WARNINGS, OR ADVISORIES.
YELLOW: A FEW WATCHES, WARNINGS, OR ADVISORIES POSSIBLE OR IN EFFECT.
RED: NUMEROUS WATCHES, WARNINGS, OR ADVISORIES POSSIBLE OR IN EFFECT.

FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION, CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT...
WWW.WEATHER.GOV/PENDLETON

90/84/84

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 17, 2:54 PM PDT, 1 hour 31 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
254 PM PDT TUE JUL 17 2012

UPDATED FOR EXTENSION OF FLOOD WATCH

ORZ041-042-044-049-050-502-503-505>509-WAZ024-026>030-520-521-
181415-
EASTERN COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE OF OREGON-NORTH CENTRAL OREGON-
LOWER COLUMBIA BASIN OF OREGON-GRANDE RONDE VALLEY-WALLOWA COUNTY-
NORTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON-
SOUTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON-JOHN DAY BASIN-OCHOCO-
JOHN DAY HIGHLANDS-
FOOTHILLS OF THE NORTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON-
FOOTHILLS OF THE SOUTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON-
EAST SLOPES OF THE OREGON CASCADES-
EASTERN COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE OF WASHINGTON-KITTITAS VALLEY-
YAKIMA VALLEY-LOWER COLUMBIA BASIN OF WASHINGTON-
FOOTHILLS OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS OF WASHINGTON-
NORTHWEST BLUE MOUNTAINS OF WASHINGTON-
EAST SLOPES OF THE WASHINGTON CASCADES-SIMCOE HIGHLANDS-
254 PM PDT TUE JUL 17 2012

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST OREGON
AS WELL AS SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

FLOODING AND THUNDERSTORMS
     ALL ZONES

AN UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM SPINNING OFF THE EXTREME
NORTHWEST CALIFORNIA COAST WILL CONTINUE TO PUMP MOISTURE OVER THE
REGION AND SERVE AS THE TRIGGER FOR THUNDERSTORMS. SOME OF THESE
THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL
AND THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR FLASH FLOODING. PLEASE REFER TO NWS
HAZARD PRODUCT ID PDXFFAPDT FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE FLASH FLOOD
WATCH.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY

FLOODING AND THUNDERSTORMS WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY
     ALL ZONES

THE CURRENT WEATHER PATTERN, WITH THE UPPER LEVEL LOW OVER EXTREME
NORTHWEST CALIFORNIA, WILL PERSIST THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT. AS A
RESULT, THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP AT TIMES WEDNESDAY
AND THURSDAY. SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN
WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR FLASH FLOODING. THUS THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH
HAS BEEN EXTENDED INTO FRIDAY MORNING. PLEASE SEE NWS PRODUCT
PDXFFAPDT FOR MORE DETAILS. THE LOW WILL MOVE THROUGH THE REGION
FRIDAY AND WILL THEN BE FOLLOWED BY A DRIER WESTERLY FLOW OVER THE
WEEKEND.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE LIKELY.

WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER
CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.

GRAPHICAL FORECASTS OF WEATHER HAZARDS OUT TO SEVEN DAYS
ARE DISPLAYED ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT:

WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/PDT/CURRENTHAZARDS/HWO.HTML

ALL LETTERS IN THE ABOVE URL ARE LOWER CASE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 17, 11:52 AM PDT, 4 hours 33 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
1152 AM PDT TUE JUL 17 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0830 PM     HEAVY RAIN       11 E PILOT ROCK         45.48N 118.60W
07/16/2012  M0.76 INCH       UMATILLA           OR   MESONET

            0.76 INCHES OF RAIN FELL IN 30 MINUTES.

0915 PM     DEBRIS FLOW      12 W PENDLETON          45.67N 119.07W
07/16/2012                   UMATILLA           OR   DEPT OF HIGHWAYS

            SEVEN TO EIGHT INCHES OF MUD ACROSS HIGHWAY 37.

&&

JAS

Special weather statement, Jul 17, 2:23 PM PDT, 2 hours 2 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
223 PM PDT TUE JUL 17 2012

ORZ502-503-507-172145-
FOOTHILLS OF THE NORTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON OR-NORTHERN BLUE
MOUNTAINS OF OREGON OR-SOUTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON OR-
223 PM PDT TUE JUL 17 2012

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHERN UMATILLA AND WESTERN
UNION COUNTIES UNTIL 245 PM PDT...

AT 218 PM PDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES NORTHEAST OF LEHMAN HOT SPRINGS...OR 26
MILES WEST OF LA GRANDE...MOVING NORTH AT 15 MPH.

HAIL UP TO ONE-HALF INCH IN DIAMETER IS EXPECTED WITH THIS
STORM...ALONG WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN.

ADDITIONAL STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALSO DEVELOPING ACROSS SOUTHERN
UMATILLA AND UNION COUNTIES AND WILL BE TRACKING NORTH AT ABOUT 10
TO 15 MPH.  THESE STORMS WILL ALSO CONTAIN SMALL HAIL AND VERY HEAVY
RAIN.

THIS STORM MAY INTENSIFY...SO BE CERTAIN TO MONITOR LOCAL RADIO AND
TV STATIONS...AS WELL AS LOCAL CABLE TV OUTLETS...FOR ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

LAT...LON 4541 11898 4547 11827 4506 11817 4500 11894
TIME...MOT...LOC 2122Z 170DEG 15KT 4522 11859

ML

Special weather statement, Jul 17, 2:44 PM PDT, 1 hour 41 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
244 PM PDT TUE JUL 17 2012

ORZ502-503-507-172215-
FOOTHILLS OF THE NORTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON OR-NORTHERN BLUE
MOUNTAINS OF OREGON OR-SOUTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON OR-
244 PM PDT TUE JUL 17 2012

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR EXTREME NORTHERN GRANT COUNTY IN
EAST CENTRAL OREGON...AND SOUTHERN UMATILLA AND WESTERN UNION
COUNTIES IN NORTHEAST OREGON UNTIL 315 PM PDT...

AT 230 PM PDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING
SEVERAL STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTHERN UMATILLA COUNTY.  THE
STRONGEST STORM IS ABOUT 10 MILES SOUTH OF PILOT ROCK AND WILL BE
MOVING THROUGH PILOT ROCK BY 315 PM.  ADDITIONAL STRONG STORMS ARE
DEVELOPING OVER NORTHERN GRANT COUNTY AND WILL BE TRACKING ACROSS
SOUTHERN UMATILLA COUNTY DURING THE NEXT 30 MINUTES.   VERY HEAVY
RAIN AND SMALL HAIL CAN BE EXPECTED AS THE STORMS MOVE THROUGH.

IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR AREA...TAKE SHELTER IN A
STURDY BUILDING.

LAT...LON 4547 11907 4556 11830 4506 11807 4499 11912
TIME...MOT...LOC 2141Z 163DEG 10KT 4536 11846

ML

Special weather statement, Jul 17, 3:19 PM PDT, 1 hour 6 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
319 PM PDT TUE JUL 17 2012

ORZ502-503-507-172315-
FOOTHILLS OF THE NORTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON OR-NORTHERN BLUE
MOUNTAINS OF OREGON OR-SOUTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON OR-
319 PM PDT TUE JUL 17 2012

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHERN UMATILLA...EXTREME
EASTERN MORROW AND WESTERN UNION COUNTIES UNTIL 415 PM PDT...

AT 312 PM PDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR STARKEY...OR 21 MILES WEST OF LA GRANDE...
MOVING NORTH AT 10 MPH.

HAIL UP TO ONE-HALF INCH IN DIAMETER IS EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM...
ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN.

ADDITIONAL STRONG STORMS WERE SPREAD ACROSS SOUTHERN UMATILLA COUNTY
EAST TO UNION COUNTY.  THESE STORMS WILL HAVE VERY HEAVY RAIN AND
SMALL HAIL. THE STORMS ARE MOVING NORTH AT 10 TO 15 MPH.

THESE STORMS MAY INTENSIFY...SO BE CERTAIN TO MONITOR LOCAL RADIO AND
TV STATIONS...AS WELL AS LOCAL CABLE TV OUTLETS...FOR ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

LAT...LON 4542 11915 4545 11820 4508 11812 4501 11916
TIME...MOT...LOC 2218Z 183DEG 9KT 4525 11850

Local storm report, Jul 17, 3:47 PM PDT, 38 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
347 PM PDT TUE JUL 17 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0335 PM     HAIL             3 NE STARKEY            45.26N 118.39W
07/17/2012  E1.00 INCH       UNION              OR   PUBLIC

&&

DC

The office that day

Everything else NWS Pendleton, OR issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 16, 9:08 PM PDT	Areal Flood Advisory	PDT	Benton, Columbia, Franklin, Walla Walla	4 hr
Jul 16, 9:23 PM PDT	Special Weather Statement	PDT	Walla Walla	37 min
Jul 16, 9:40 PM PDT	Special Weather Statement	PDT	Franklin	35 min
Jul 17, 4:39 PM PDT	Flash Flood Warning	PDT	Columbia	2 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Washington, 2012 Every flash flood warning in 2012

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.