Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 27, NWS Cleveland, OH

June 20, 1989Venango County, Pennsylvania

NWS Cleveland, OH issued this flash flood warning at Jun 20, 1989, 4:13 PM EDT for Venango County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jun 20, 1989, 4:13 PM EDT (20:13 UTC)
Expired
Jun 20, 1989, 8:15 PM EDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS Cleveland, OH
Area
Whole counties

County Venango 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

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 114 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1989-06-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 126 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1989-06-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 42 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
126 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-25 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
602 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
75 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 KERI 202013
FFWERI
PAC053-083-047-121-123-210015-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
FLASH FLOOD WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ERIE PA
413 PM EDT TUE JUN 20 1989

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 815 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTIES

   IN THE NORTHWEST PART OF PENNSYLVANIA
      FOREST...MCKEAN...ELK...VENANGO...WARREN

FLOODING CONTINUES TO BE REPORTED THROUGHOUT THESE NORTHWEST
PENNSYLVANIA COUNTIES...STREAMS AND CREEKS ARE CONTINUING TO RISE.
RAIN IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL MORE HOURS ACROSS THESE
COUNTIES.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY.
THE WATER D#EPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS SAFELY.
VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED IMMEDIATELY.
MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

 PARRISH

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, Jun 20, 1:03 PM EDT, 3 hours 10 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ERIE, PA
1253 PM EDT TUE JUN 20 1989

...RAINS CONTINUE ACROSS NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA...
...A FLOOD WARNING IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 415 PM FOR ELK COUNTY...
...A FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR ALL OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA UNTILL
...400 PM...

HEAVY RAINS WHICH HAVE BEEN OCCURRING OVERNIGHT AND THIS MORNING HAVE
CAUSED WIDSPREAD FLOODING OF ROADWAYS AND LOW LYING AREAS ACROSS
NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA. MOST RAINFALL TOTALS HAVE BEEN RUNNING IN THE 1 TO 2
INCH RANGE.

MANY STREAMS WHERE REPORTED AT OR NEAR BANKFULL IN ELK COUNTY WITH NUMEROUS
BASEMENTS BEING PUMPED IN ELBON AND BROCKPORT.

AT 1250 PM RADAR SHOWED THAT THE BANDS OF HEAVIER RAINS WHERE MOVING OUT
OF ERIE AND WESTERN CRAWFORD COUNTIES TOWARDS COUNTIES FURTHER SOUTH AND
EAST.
PARRISH

The office that day

Everything else NWS Cleveland, OH issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 20, 12:16 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLEElk4 hr
Jun 20, 2:08 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLEForest, Venango2 hr
Jun 20, 4:13 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLEElk, Forest, McKean, Warren4 hr
Jun 20, 7:08 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLEPotter5 hr
Jun 20, 7:38 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLECameron5 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1989Every flash flood warning in 1989

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.