Alert archive / Texas / Flash Flood Warnings in 2015

Flash Flood Warning 7, NWS Lake Charles, LA

March 21, 2015Jefferson County, Texas

NWS Lake Charles, LA issued this flash flood warning at Mar 21, 2015, 3:48 PM CDT for Jefferson County, Texas. It was in force for 117 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: Mar 21, 2015, 3:48 PM CDT (20:48 UTC)
Expired: Mar 21, 2015, 5:45 PM CDT
In force: 117 min
Issued by: NWS Lake Charles, LA
Area: Storm-based polygon
Flood severity: None

County Jefferson County, TX

The radar

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 89 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:49 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

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), launched 12:00Z, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 90 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: 173 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 533 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 82 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 138 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

432 
WGUS54 KLCH 212048
FFWLCH
TXC245-212245-
/O.NEW.KLCH.FF.W.0007.150321T2048Z-150321T2245Z/
/00000.0.ER.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA
348 PM CDT SAT MAR 21 2015

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  JEFFERSON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST TEXAS...
  THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF...PORT NECHES...PORT ARTHUR...
  NEDERLAND...HAMSHIRE...GROVES...CENTRAL GARDENS...

* UNTIL 545 PM CDT

* AT 344 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED   
  FLASH FLOODING FROM A CLUSTER OF SHOWERS AND ISOLATED              
  THUNDERSTORMS FROM HAMSHIRE TO NEDERLAND AND PORT ARTHUR...MOVING  
  NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH. RAINFALL IS BEGINNING TO DIMINISH ACROSS THE  
  AREA...BUT SCATTERED SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT PORTIONS OF   
  THE COUNTY SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 10. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 4 TO 7      
  INCHES HAVE FALLEN SINCE EARLY THIS MORNING...AND AN ADDITIONAL 1  
  TO 2 INCHES IS STILL POSSIBLE THROUGH THE NEXT HOUR OR TWO. THIS   
  ADDITIONAL RAINFALL ALONG WITH RUNOFF FROM EARLIER RAINS TODAY     
  WILL MAINTAIN THE POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING WITH SEVERAL ROADWAYS     
  ALREADY UNDER WATER IN BRIDGE CITY...PORT ARTHUR AND NEDERLAND.

* OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO PORT
  ACRES AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS REGIONAL AIRPORT

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

MOST FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. NEVER DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO
AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. FLOOD WATERS ARE USUALLY
DEEPER THAN THEY APPEAR. JUST ONE FOOT OF FLOWING WATER IS POWERFUL
ENOUGH TO SWEEP VEHICLES OFF THE ROAD. WHEN ENCOUNTERING FLOODED
ROADS MAKE THE SMART CHOICE...TURN AROUND...DONT DROWN.

&&

LAT...LON 3008 9409 3008 9405 3006 9405 3007 9403
      3003 9403 3001 9396 2992 9387 2991 9388
      2962 9435 2988 9436 2988 9441 2996 9442

$$

24

The office that day

Everything else NWS Lake Charles, LA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 20, 9:39 PM CDT	Areal Flood Advisory	LCH	Jasper, Newton, Tyler	3 hr
Mar 20, 10:25 PM CDT	Flash Flood Watch	LCH	Hardin, Jasper, Newton, Tyler	18 hr
Mar 21, 10:13 AM CDT	Areal Flood Advisory	LCH	Jefferson	2 hr
Mar 21, 10:56 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Jefferson	109 min
Mar 21, 11:06 AM CDT	Areal Flood Advisory	LCH	Jefferson, Orange	114 min
Mar 21, 12:32 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Jefferson, Orange	88 min
Mar 21, 12:48 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Jefferson	3 hr
Mar 21, 2:02 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LCH	Jefferson, Orange	3 hr
Mar 21, 4:05 PM CDT	River Flood Watch	LCH		10 days
Mar 21, 4:13 PM CDT	Flash Flood Watch	LCH	Hardin, Jasper, Newton, Tyler	5 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Texas, 2015 Every flash flood warning in 2015

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.