Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1995
Flash Flood Warning 76, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Oct 21, 1995, 5:38 AM EDT for Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 4 hr.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Oct 21, 1995, 5:38 AM EDT (09:38 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 21, 1995, 9:45 AM EDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Schuylkill County, PA
The radar
The State College radar (KCCX), 152 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:40 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.
Open the radar archive at this moment
The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.
The nearest sounding before it
Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 00:00Z, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 220 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 294 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -4 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 561 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 42 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 248 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 324 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.2
- Supercell composite
- 2.2
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCTP 210940 FFWCTP PAC107-211345- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 538 AM EDT SAT OCT 21 1995 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 945 AM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...... IN PENNSYLVANIA ...SCHUYLKILL COUNTY AT 540 AM EDT... DOPPLER RADAR FROM STATE COLLEGE SHOWED HEAVY RAINS CONTINUING TO PELT SCHUYLKILL COUNTY. BETWEEN 2 AND 3.5 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN IN SCHUYLKILL COUNTY SINCE LAST EVENING WITH MORE HEAVY RAINS TO CONTINUE THROUGH 7 AM. THE RAINS WILL CAUSE FLOODING IN POOR DRAINAGE AREAS AND PONDING OF ROADWAYS. BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE DANGERS OF FLOODS. IF FLOODING IS OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY. WATCH FOR PONDING OF WATER ON ROADWAYS THAT MAY BE HARD TO SEE IN THE DARK. NICOSIA
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.
NWS State College, PA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Oct 21, 2:37 AM EDT, 3 hours 1 minute earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Oct 21, 2:37 AM EDT, 3 hours 1 minute before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 235 AM EDT SAT OCT 21 1995 STRONG COLD FRONT FROM IPT SOUTH TO JUST WEST OF MDT AT 2AM. LARGE AREA OF HEAVY RAIN OVER CNTRL PA AT THIS TIME IN RESPONSE TO STRONG FRONTOGENETIC FORCING. NOSE OF 55+ KT LOW LEVEL JET NOW PUSHING INTO SRN NY WITH CTRL PA IN LEFT ENTRANCE REGION OF LL JET. STRONG AGEOSTROPHIC COMPONENT OF FLOW ACROSS LLJ MAKING FOR INTENSE LOW LEVEL WIND AND MOISTURE CONVERGENCE OVER AREA. THIS SITS NICELY UNDER STRONG DIVERGENCE ALOFT COURTESY OF NEGATIVE TILT TROF AND STRONG EVACUATION OCCURRING DUE TO JET SPLITTING AS IT MAKES TURN THRU TROF BASE. MARGINAL INSTABILITY CAUSING EMBEDDED CONVECTION WHICH ISN'T HURTING SYSTEM'S PRECIP MAKING ABILITY...SEEN SEVERAL FLASHES OF LTG OUT WINDOW HERE AT CTP. EARLIER CONCERN WAS FOR POSSIBILITY OF SYSTEM TAPPING STRONG WINDS JUST ABOVE BOUNDARY LAYER AND MIXING THEM DOWN IN CONVECTION BUT THIS DOESN'T SEEM TO BE HAPPENING. INITIAL GUSTY WINDS WITH FRONT HAVE CALMED DOWN SOMEWHAT AS WELL. HAD 2.5" OF RAIN HERE AT CTP. RADAR INDICATING 3.9" IN ELK CTY. CORRELATION BETWEEN RADAR AND GAGES KIND OF ERRATIC. SOME RADARA ESTIMATES SEEM PRETTY CLOSE TO GAGES BUT OTHERS SHOWING BIG DISCREPANCIES. WOULD THINK A SYSTEM LIKE THIS WOULD BE UNDERCOOKED A BIT. LA CORTE
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 20, 8:33 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Clearfield, Elk | 57 min |
| Oct 21, 1:27 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Clearfield, Elk | 4 hr |
| Oct 21, 4:22 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Centre, Clinton | 4 hr |
| Oct 21, 4:28 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Lancaster, Lebanon, York | 4 hr |
| Oct 21, 4:34 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin | 4 hr |
| Oct 21, 4:40 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Cameron, Potter | 4 hr |
| Oct 21, 4:40 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Lycoming, Tioga | 4 hr |
| Oct 21, 4:55 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Blair | 4 hr |
| Oct 21, 5:11 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Snyder, Union | 4 hr |
| Oct 21, 6:09 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Adams, Cumberland | 4 hr |
| Oct 21, 6:09 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Dauphin, Perry | 4 hr |
| Oct 21, 6:15 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Columbia, Sullivan | 4 hr |
| Oct 21, 6:15 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Montour, Northumberland | 4 hr |
Nearby
Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1995Every flash flood warning in 1995
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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.