Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1989

Flash Flood Warning 14, NWS State College, PA

June 22, 1989Adams County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jun 22, 1989, 11:39 PM EDT for Adams County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jun 22, 1989, 11:39 PM EDT (03:39 UTC)
Expired
Jun 23, 1989, 3:45 AM EDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Adams 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 00:00Z, 3.7 hours before the alert went out and 104 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 00:00Z on 1989-06-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 797 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 00:00Z on 1989-06-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 1 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
797 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1083 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
39 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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

Local storm report, Jun 22, 6:20 PM EDT, 5 hours 19 minutes before
SUPPLEMENTARY STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HARRISBURG PA.
ISSUED 600 PM EDT   THU  JUN 22 1989

               EVENT               DATE/TIME   COUNTY      CITY

             TORNAD0           6/20 815-830 PM PERRY    ABOUT 7 MILES
                                                        WEST OF LOYSVILLE

MORROW FARM...ROOF BLOWN OFF AND END BLOWN OUT OF BARN. PART OF ROOF OFF
ANOTHER OUT BUILDING. OTHER NEARBY SHED AND FARMHOUSE NOT DAMAGED. FOUR
EYE WUTNESSES...KEN MORROW AND THREE SONS. THEY WERE IN NON-DAMGED SHED
WHEN WIND BEGAN TO BLOW. THEY OBSERVED FLYING DEBRIS FROM ROOFS. THEY
OBSERVED TWO FUNNELS MOVING AWAY FROM THEIR FARM TOWARD THE NORTHEAST.
DEBRIS FROM OUT BUIDING WAS IN FIELD TO SOUTH. BARN TIN SHEET DEBRIS WAS
WEST AND NORTH. SOME DEBRIS 1 TO 1/2 MILES TO NORTH WHERE IT DAMAGED A
FENCE ON ANOTHER FARM. NO NOISE HEARD. HEAVY RAIN AT TIME. NEIGHBOR RAIN
GAGE RECORDED 5 INCHES...ALL IT COULD HOLD. NO OBSERVED FUNNEL PATH.

ANOTHER EYE WITNESS...WALTER GOODLING WHOSE HOME IN APPROXIMATELY 2 MILES
NORTH NORTHEAST OF MORROW PLACE. HE OBSERVED ONE FUNNEL MOVING TOWARD
HIS HOUSE. FUNNEL PRESUMED TO BE SAME ONE OBSERVED AT THE MORROW FARM.
GOODLING FARM FENCE BELIEVED DAMAGED FROM DEBRIS FROM MORROW FARM.

A GARAGE PARTIALLY COLLASPED AND ROOF WAS DISLODGED. THIS ABOUT 300 FEET
WEST OF GOODLING HOUSE. MAN IN GARAGE RECEIVED CRITIAL CHEST INJURY. TWO
OTHER HOUSES WITHIN 30 TO 40 FEET OF DAMAGED GARAGE HAD NO DAMAGE. TREE
NEAR GARAGE SNAPPED OFF OTHER TREES NEARBY NO APPEARANCE DAMAGE. NEIGHBORS
ACROSS ROAD...WEST OF DAMAGED GARAGE...HEARD NOISE "LIKE OLD TIME TRAIN".
THEIR HOUSE HAD NO DAMAGE.

ANOTHER HOUSE...APPROXIMATELY 200 FEET NORTH OF DAMAGED GARAGE...RECEIVED
NO DAMAGE BUT HAD A 16 FOOT BLUE SPRUCE UPROOTED. ANOTHER TYPE TREE 8 INCH
IN DIAMETER SNAPPED OFF...ALL IN BACKYARD. TREES FELL IN DIFFERENT
DIRECTIONS.  HEAVY RAIN AT TIME. ESTHER COLLINS...LADY AT HOUSE OBSERVED
BOWL LIKE THING UNDER CLOUD JUST BEFORE TREE DAMAGE OCCURRED.

WE COULD NOT DETERMINE ANY FUNNEL PATH ON GROUND. IT APPEARED IT MUST HAVE
BEEN A TOUCH AND GO THING AS IT MOVED TOWARD NORTH NORTHEAST. ESTIMATED
WIND SPEED 115 TO 130 MPH.

SMALL STREAM AND FIELD FLOODING OCCURRING IN THE AREA WHEN FUNNEL APPEARED.

WSO HAR JORDAN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 22, 8:00 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPYork4 hr
Jun 23, 1:19 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPHuntingdon4 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.