Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1988

Flash Flood Warning 9, NWS State College, PA

May 19, 1988Franklin County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at May 19, 1988, 1:19 PM EDT for Franklin County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 19, 1988, 1:19 PM EDT (17:19 UTC)
Expired
May 19, 1988, 7:15 PM EDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Franklin County, PA

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 5.3 hours before the alert went out and 112 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, Washington/Dulle, VA at 12:00Z on 1988-05-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 8 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Washington/Dulle, VA at 12:00Z on 1988-05-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 23 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
8 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-20 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1282 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
23 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
57 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 
TTAA00 KHAR 191721
FFWHAR
PAC055-192215-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HARRISBURG PA
119 PM EDT THU MAY 19 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HARRISBURG HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  615 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
          ...FRANKLIN
 
AT 115 PM EDT...RADAR WAS INDICATING HEAVY RAIN MOVING INTO THE
SOUTHERN PORTION OF FRANKLIN COUNTY FROM NORTH CENTRAL MARYLAND. DUE
TO THE ALREADY SATURATED GROUNDS AND WITH STREAMS REMAINING AT
BANKFULL...ANY ADDITIONAL RAINFALL WOULD CAUSE MORE FLOODING PROBLEMS.
 
 
 
 
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.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 19, 12:54 PM EDT, 25 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HARRISBURG PA.
1250PM EDT    THU  MAY 19 1988

.......MORE HEAVY RAINS HEADING FOR FRANKLIN AND ADAMS COUNTIES.....

AT 1245 PM EDT THE HARRISBURG WEATHER RADAR WAS OBSERVING AN AREA OF
POSSIBLE HEAVY RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS AROUND HAGERSTOWN MARYLAND...
NORTH TO THE EXTREME SOUTHERN BORDERS OF FRANKLIN AND ADAMS COUNTIES.

THIS HEAVY RAIN WAS MOVING GENERALLY TO THE NORTH AT AROUND 20 MILES
AN HOUR AND SHOULD OVERSPREAD THE SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF ADAMS AND
FRANKLIN COUNTIES BY 115 PM EDT THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON.

WITH THE GROUND ALREADY SATURATED THIS POSSIBLE HEAVY RAIN COULD START
FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS ONCE AGAIN THROUGHOUT THE ABOVE NAMED COUNTIES.

PERSONS LIVING ALONG SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS SHOULD BE ALERT FOR POSSIBLE
 FLOODING AND PREPARE TO MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND SHOULD FLOODING
BEGIN.

CURLL WSO HARRISBURG

The office that day

Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 18, 8:28 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPFranklin6 hr
May 18, 11:31 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPAdams5 hr
May 19, 5:46 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPAdams6 hr
May 19, 7:34 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPLancaster6 hr
May 19, 8:45 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPClinton6 hr
May 19, 2:10 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPLycoming6 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1988Every flash flood warning in 1988

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.