Alert archive / New York / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 2, NWS Albany, NY

February 23, 1996Rensselaer County, New York

NWS Albany, NY issued this flash flood warning at Feb 23, 1996, 3:53 PM EST for Rensselaer County, New York. It was in force for 12 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Feb 23, 1996, 3:53 PM EST (20:53 UTC)
Expired: Feb 24, 1996, 4:00 AM EST
In force: 12 hr
Issued by: NWS Albany, NY
Area: Whole counties

County Rensselaer County, NY

The radar

The Albany radar (KENX), 47 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:56 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

Albany, NY (KALB), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 26 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 515 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 83 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 KALB 232053
FFWALB
NYC083-240900-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
353 PM EST FRI FEB 23 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ALBANY NY  HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  400 AM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST NEW YORK
 
   ...RENSSELAER COUNTY
 
SEVERAL ICE JAMS ON THE POESTENKILL CREEK ARE CAUSING FLOODING IN THE
TOWN OF POESTENKILL. THE FIRST ICE JAM HAS PUT WATER UP TO 1 FOOT DEEP
ACROSS PLANK RD...AND THE ROAD REMAINS CLOSED BETWEEN OAK HILL RD AND
CATLIN RD. THE SECOND AND THIRD JAMS ARE 1/2 WAY BETWEEN FIFTY SIX RD.
AND CROPSEY RD. THE WATER FLOWING UNDER THESE DAMS NOW MAY WASH OUT
PLANK RD. IF ANY OF THESE ICE JAMS BREAK A SUDDEN RELEASE OF WATER WOULD
THREATEN EAST POESTENKILL...BARBERSVILLE AND POESTENKILL.
 
THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION...IF YOU LIVE ALONG THE POESTENKILL
CREEK IN THIS AREA BE PREPARED TO EVACUATE AT A MOMENTS NOTICE.
 
 
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE
THE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS.  IF FLASH FLOODING IS
OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY.  MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS.  DO
NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.
 
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 ST
REAM...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, Feb 23, 11:05 AM EST, 4 hours 48 minutes before

NYZ038>043-047>054-058>061-063>066-VTZ013-014-MAZ001-CTZ001-231900-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
1105 AM EST FRI FEB 23 1996

...THE DENSE FOG ADVISORY WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FOR MUCH OF EASTERN NEW
YORK AND ADJACENT WESTERN NEW ENGLAND THROUGH MID-MORNING HAS
EXPIRED...

THE FOG HAD LIFTED LATE THIS MORNING IN MANY VALLEY LOCATIONS BUT
STILL REMAINED AT AREAS ABOVE 1000 FT ESPECIALLY WHERE SNOW COVER WAS
STILL IN PLACE AND ALONG STREAMS...LAKES AND RIVERS WHICH WERE STILL
ICE COVERED. THE FOG WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH IN THESE AREAS DURING
THE AFTERNOON.

QUINLAN

The office that day

Everything else NWS Albany, NY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 23, 9:30 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	ALY	Rensselaer	6 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New York, 1996 Every flash flood warning in 1996

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.