Alert archive / Colorado / Flash Flood Warnings in 2013

Flash Flood Warning 35, NWS Pueblo, CO

September 11, 2013El Paso County, Colorado

NWS Pueblo, CO issued this flash flood warning at Sep 11, 2013, 9:43 AM MDT for El Paso County, Colorado. It was in force for 3 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: Sep 11, 2013, 9:43 AM MDT (15:43 UTC)
Expired: Sep 11, 2013, 12:30 PM MDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Pueblo, CO
Area: Storm-based polygon
Flood severity: None

County El Paso County, CO

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:46 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

Denver, CO (KDEN), launched 12:00Z, 3.7 hours before the alert went out and 184 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: 123 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -21 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 572 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 28 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.

056 
WGUS55 KPUB 111543
FFWPUB
COC041-111830-
/O.NEW.KPUB.FF.W.0035.130911T1543Z-130911T1830Z/
/00000.0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
943 AM MDT WED SEP 11 2013

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PUEBLO HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  WEST CENTRAL EL PASO COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO...

* UNTIL 1230 PM MDT

* AT 937 AM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED   
  LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE TO TRAIN OVER THE WALDO   
  BURN SCAR. OVER AN INCH OF RAIN HAS FALLEN OVER THE SOUTHEASTERN   
  PART OF THE BURN SCAR SINCE 7 AM THIS MORNING...AND STREAM COMING  
  OUT OF THE BURN SCAR ARE RUNNING AT OR NEAR BANKFUL. ANY           
  ADDITIONAL RAIN IS LIKELY GOING TO CAUSE THESE STREAMS TO OVERFLOW 
  THEIR BANKS. AREAS MOST SUSCEPTIBLE TO FLASH FLOODING WILL BE      
  WILLIAMS CANYON...WALDO CANYON AND CAMP CREEK. 

* RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING TO
  OCCUR. SOME LOCATIONS THAT WILL EXPERIENCE FLOODING INCLUDE...     
  COLORADO SPRINGS...CASCADE...CHIPITA PARK AND MANITOU SPRINGS.

JUST A SMALL AMOUNT OF RAINFALL ON A BURN SCAR CAN LEAD TO FLASH
FLOODING. WATER THAT IS NORMALLY ABSORBED BY THE SOILS AND
VEGETATION...RUNS OFF ALMOST INSTANTLY. THIS CAUSES CREEKS AND
DRAINAGE AREAS TO FLOOD AT A MUCH FASTER RATE THAN NORMAL. IN
ADDITION...THE SOILS IN A BURN SCAR BECOME UNSTABLE WHEN IT RAINS...
SOMETIMES RESULTING IN DEBRIS AND FALLING ROCK. ROADS CAN BE WASHED
OUT BY THE FORCE OF THE RUSHING WATER AND DEBRIS.

LAT...LON 3890 10502 3894 10501 3895 10485 3882 10487
      3888 10499

$$

2 follow-up statements

620 
WGUS75 KPUB 111603
FFSPUB

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
1003 AM MDT WED SEP 11 2013

COC041-111830-
/O.CON.KPUB.FF.W.0035.000000T0000Z-130911T1830Z/
/00000.0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/
EL PASO CO-
1003 AM MDT WED SEP 11 2013

...FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR WEST CENTRAL EL PASO
COUNTY UNTIL 1230 PM MDT...

AT 957 AM MDT...RADAR INDICATED RAIN INCREASING IN COVERAGE AND 
INTENSITY OVER THE WALDO BURN SCAR. AN ADDITIONAL 0.25 TO 0.5 INCHES 
OF RAIN IS LIKELY TO OCCUR BETWEEN 10 AM AND 11 AM...WITH LOCALLY 
HEAVIER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE. 

MINOR FLOODING IS OCCURRING AT HIGHWAY 24 IN CASCADE.

SEDIMENT WAS GETTING INTO THE CULVERT AT WALDO CANYON AT HIGHWAY 24. 

THE WALDO CANYON BURN SCAR IS BECOMING COMPLETELY SATURATED AND ANY 
ADDITIONAL RAIN IS GOING TO RUNOFF RAPIDLY. OVER 0.75 AND  1.10 
INCHES OF RAIN HAS ALREADY BEEN MEASURED IN THE RAIN GAGES OVER THE 
BURN SCAR. 

JUST A SMALL AMOUNT OF RAINFALL ON A BURN SCAR CAN LEAD TO FLASH 
FLOODING. WATER THAT IS NORMALLY ABSORBED BY THE SOILS AND 
VEGETATION...RUNS OFF ALMOST INSTANTLY. THIS CAUSES CREEKS AND 
DRAINAGE AREAS TO FLOOD AT A MUCH FASTER RATE THAN NORMAL. IN 
ADDITION...THE SOILS IN A BURN SCAR BECOME UNSTABLE WHEN IT 
RAINS...SOMETIMES RESULTING IN DEBRIS AND FALLING ROCK. ROADS CAN BE 
WASHED OUT BY THE FORCE OF THE RUSHING WATER AND DEBRIS.

LAT...LON 3890 10502 3894 10501 3895 10485 3882 10487
      3888 10499

$$

051 
WGUS75 KPUB 111641
FFSPUB

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
1041 AM MDT WED SEP 11 2013

COC041-111652-
/O.CAN.KPUB.FF.W.0035.000000T0000Z-130911T1830Z/
/00000.0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/
EL PASO CO-
1041 AM MDT WED SEP 11 2013

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING THAT WAS IN EFFECT FOR WEST CENTRAL EL
PASO COUNTY IS CANCELLED...

AT 1036 AM...RADAR INDICATED THAT THE TRAINING CELLS SOUTH OF THE 
WALDO BURN SCAR HAVE DISSIPATED. EMERGENCY AUTHORITIES MONITORING 
CREEKS AND STREAMS IN AND AROUND THE BURN SCAR ARE INDICATING FLOWS 
ARE REMAINING WITHIN BANKFUL. FOR THIS REASON...THE FLASH FLOOD 
WARING IS BEING CANCELLED.

ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN IS LIKELY IN AND AROUND THE BURN SCAR LATER 
TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY. THE WALDO BURN SCAR IS SATURATED...AND IT WILL 
NOT TAKE MUCH RAIN TO CAUSE FLASH FLOODING. 

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE WALDO AND BLACK FOREST BURN 
SCARS THROUGH THIS EVENING. 

RESIDENTS ARE STRONGLY URGED BE WEATHER ALERT THE NEXT COUPLE OF 
DAYS IN AND AROUND THE BURN SCARS IN EL PASO COUNTY.

JUST A SMALL AMOUNT OF RAINFALL ON A BURN SCAR CAN LEAD TO FLASH
FLOODING. WATER THAT IS NORMALLY ABSORBED BY THE SOILS AND
VEGETATION...RUNS OFF ALMOST INSTANTLY. THIS CAUSES CREEKS AND
DRAINAGE AREAS TO FLOOD AT A MUCH FASTER RATE THAN NORMAL. IN
ADDITION...THE SOILS IN A BURN SCAR BECOME UNSTABLE WHEN IT RAINS...
SOMETIMES RESULTING IN DEBRIS AND FALLING ROCK. ROADS CAN BE WASHED
OUT BY THE FORCE OF THE RUSHING WATER AND DEBRIS.

LAT...LON 3890 10502 3894 10501 3895 10485 3882 10487
      3888 10499

$$

The office that day

Everything else NWS Pueblo, CO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 10, 8:28 PM MDT	Areal Flood Advisory	PUB	El Paso	2 hr
Sep 11, 7:47 AM MDT	Areal Flood Advisory	PUB	El Paso	3 hr
Sep 11, 9:05 AM MDT	Flash Flood Watch	PUB	El Paso, Fremont, Teller	15 hr
Sep 11, 9:44 AM MDT	Areal Flood Advisory	PUB	Fremont	106 min
Sep 11, 3:58 PM MDT	Flash Flood Watch	PUB	Alamosa, Chaffee, Costilla, Custer, El Paso, Fremont and 5 more	35 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Colorado, 2013 Every flash flood warning in 2013

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.