Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 104, NWS Cleveland, OH

June 18, 1996Erie County, Pennsylvania

NWS Cleveland, OH issued this flash flood warning at Jun 18, 1996, 8:40 PM EDT for Erie County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 3 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
Jun 18, 1996, 8:40 PM EDT (00:40 UTC)
Expired
Jun 18, 1996, 11:45 PM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Cleveland, OH
Area
Whole counties

County Erie County, PA

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 145 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:43 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

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 146 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, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 00:00Z on 1996-06-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 44 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, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 00:00Z on 1996-06-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 112 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
44 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-30 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
623 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
112 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
136 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 KCLE 190043
FFWCLE
PAC049-190345-
 
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
840 PM EDT TUE JUN 18 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CLEVELAND HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING FOR URBAN AREAS AND SMALL STREAMS
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1145 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...ERIE COUNTY
 
AT 835 PM...RADAR INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN MOVING
INTO WESTERN ERIE COUNTY NEAR WEST SPRINGFIELD AND ALBION. THESE STORMS
WILL SPREAD EAST ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF ERIE COUNTY. THE SOIL IS
SATURATED SO ANY ADDITIONAL RAIN WILL PRODUCE FLOODING.
 
MOST DEATHS IN FLASH FLOODING 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.
 
 
GABRIC

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 18, 5:42 PM EDT, 2 hours 58 minutes before
OHZ002-003-005>014-017>023-027>033-036>038-047-190000-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
529 PM EDT TUE JUN 18 1996

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 PM TONIGHT FOR ALL OF
NORTHERN OHIO.

AT 530 PM...DOPPLER RADAR IN CLEVELAND INDICATED SCATTERED
THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS NORTHERN OHIO. THE STORMS WERE MOST NUMEROUS OVER
NORTHWEST OHIO IN THE VICINITY OF TOLEDO AND FINDLAY. ALSO...STORMS
WERE INCREASING IN NUMBER IN STARK COUNTY AROUND CANTON.  THE STORMS
WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AROUND 25 MPH.

THE THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING ARE LIKELY TO PRODUCE TORRENTIAL RAIN IN
SOME AREAS ALONG WITH THE POnTENTIAL FOR DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL. YOU
SHOULD BE ALERT FOR RAPID FLOODING ALONG SMALL STREAMS AND IN URBAN
AREAS WHERE THE HEAVY RAIN OCCURS.

GABRIC
Special weather statement, Jun 18, 8:38 PM EDT, 2 minutes before
OHZ002-003-005>014-017>023-027>033-036>038-047-190000-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
836 PM EDT TUE JUN 18 1996

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR A LARGE PART OF
NORTH CENTRAL OHIO AND ALL OF NORTHWEST OHIO.

THE WATCH HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR THE COUNTIES WEST OF A LINE FROM
ABOUT VERMILION...SOUTH TO MANSFIELD AND MOUNT VERNON.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 PM FOR THE
REMAINDER OF NORTHERN OHIO.

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS NORTHEAST OHIO. HEAVY
DOWNPOURS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND GUSTY WINDS SHOULD BE EXPECTED
WITH THE THUNDERSTORMS.

GABRIC

The office that day

Everything else NWS Cleveland, OH issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 18, 11:21 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLEErie4 hr
Jun 19, 1:51 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLEErie2 hr
Jun 19, 3:57 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLECrawford, Erie6 hr
Jun 19, 1:43 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLEErie4 hr
Jun 19, 7:29 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLECrawford2 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1996Every 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.