Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1990

Flash Flood Warning 4, NWS Pittsburgh, PA

June 6, 1990Butler County, Pennsylvania

NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jun 6, 1990, 11:00 PM EDT for Butler County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jun 6, 1990, 11:00 PM EDT (03:00 UTC)
Expired
Jun 7, 1990, 2:00 AM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Pittsburgh, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Butler 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 00:00Z, 3.0 hours before the alert went out and 58 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 00:00Z on 1990-06-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 388 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 00:00Z on 1990-06-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 146 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
388 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-50 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1145 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
146 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
149 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KPIT 070301
FFWPIT
PAC019-070600-

BULLETIN  BROADCAST IMMEDIATELY
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
1100 PM EDT WED JUN  6 1990

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A FLOOD WARNING
UNTIL 2 AM THURSDAY FOR THIS COUNTY IN

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA...BUTLER.

AT 1058 PM TWO INCHES OF RAIN WAS REPORTED A FEW MILES EAST OF SLIPPERY
ROCK PENNSYLVANIA. STREAMS ARE RUNNING HIGH AND ARE ABOUT TO OVERFLOW.

LIGHTNING HAS CAUSED SOME POWER OUTAGES. WINDS WILL BE STRONG AND
GUSTY IN SOME THUNDERSTORMS.

A FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES UNTIL 4 AM THURSDAY FOR 9 COUNTIES NORTH OF
PITTSBURGH...ROUGHLY FROM MERCER AND LAWRENCE COUNTIES TO CLEARFIELD
AND CENTRE.

A FLOOD WARNING MEANS FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR IN PROGRESS.
IF YOU GET ANY INDICATION THAT FLOOD WATERS ARE APPROACHING..MOVE TO
HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY. DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH FLOODED AREAS.

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 6, 9:56 PM EDT, 1 hour 4 minutes before
PAZ001>006-013>015-WVZ001-070900-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
1000 PM EDT MON JUN 4 1990

...THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND GUSTY WIND WILL CONTINUE
OVERNIGHT ACROSS THE NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA PANHANDLE AND WESTERN
PENNSYLVANIA SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80...

REPEATED HEAVY DOWNPOURS MAY CAUSE FLOODING ALONG SMALL STREAMS AND
WHERE DRAINAGE IS POOR.  TWO INCHES OF RAIN WOULD DO IT.  IF YOU LIVE
IN AN AREA PRONE TO THIS TYPE OF FLOODING...BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
REPEATED HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND RISING WATER.  LISTEN FOR FURTHER
ADVISORIES.  STRONG WIND GUSTS AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE ALSO
POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT AND FOG CAN SHARPLY REDUCE VISIBILITY.

GIORDAN&O/ALESSI

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 6, 8:22 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZWashington68 min

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.