Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1990

Flash Flood Warning 15, NWS State College, PA

October 13, 1990Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Oct 13, 1990, 3:49 PM EDT for Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Oct 13, 1990, 3:49 PM EDT (19:49 UTC)
Expired
Oct 13, 1990, 7:45 PM EDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Cumberland 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, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 135 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 1990-10-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 372 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 1990-10-13The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 68 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
372 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
602 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
68 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
120 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KHAR 131949 RRA
FFWHAR
PAC041-132345-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SMALL STREAM AND URBAN FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HARRISBURG PA
349 PM EDT SAT OCT 13 1990
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HARRISBURG HAS ISSUED A
SMALL STREAM AND URBAN FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  745 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
          ...CUMBERLAND
 
A SMALL STREAM FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE CONODOGUINET
CREEK UNTIL EARLY THIS EVENING. OTHER SMALL STREAMS IN CUMBERLAND
COUNTY WERE AT NEAR BANKFUL OR SLIGHTLY ABOVE.
 
THE HIGH WATER IS THE RESULT OF HEAVY RAINS OVERNIGHT AND EARLY THIS
MORNING.
 
LITTLE OR NO ADDITIONAL RAIN IS EXPECTED.
 
 
 
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS
IMMINENT.  MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS
THE ROADWAY.  NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL
ONE...ON FOOT.  TO ESCAPE RISING WATER MOVE UP 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, Oct 13, 10:13 AM EDT, 5 hours 36 minutes before
PAZ009-131545-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HARRISBURG PA.
1010 AM EDT    SAT  OCT 13 1990

...SMALL STREAM FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR ALL THE SUSQUEHANNA
    VALLEY...
...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE MOVING THORUGH EASTERN PORTIONS OF
   THE LOWER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY...

AT 1005 AM RADAR SHOWED A FEW SACTTERED THUNDERSTORMS REACHING FROM
NORTHERN LEBANON COUNTY...SOUTH TO JUST EAST OF MIDDLETOWN AND ON SOUTH
TO NEAR HANOVER IN YORK COUNTY. RAIN AND SCATTERED SHOWERS COVERED MOST
OF THE REMAINDER OF THE SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTH AROUND 15 MILES AN HOUR AND THE RAIN
AND SHOWERS WERE MOVING NORTH NORTHEAST AROUND 20 MILES AN HOUR.D

WSO HAR JORDAN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 13, 1:49 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPNorthumberland, Perry56 min
Oct 13, 2:25 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPCumberland, Perry65 min
Oct 13, 2:25 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPNorthumberland, Union65 min
Oct 13, 3:44 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPNorthumberland, Snyder, Union61 min
Oct 13, 3:44 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPCumberland, Juniata, Perry61 min
Oct 13, 4:50 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPNorthumberland, Perry, Snyder, Union55 min
Oct 13, 5:42 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPNorthumberland, Perry, Snyder, Union2 hr
Oct 13, 6:50 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPBradford4 hr
Oct 13, 7:55 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPLycoming4 hr
Oct 13, 9:44 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPAdams3 hr
Oct 13, 9:50 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPLycoming4 hr
Oct 13, 10:28 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPUnion3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1990Every flash flood warning in 1990

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.