Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 191, NWS Cleveland, OH

September 17, 1996Crawford County, Pennsylvania

NWS Cleveland, OH issued this flash flood warning at Sep 17, 1996, 3:19 PM EDT for Crawford 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
Sep 17, 1996, 3:19 PM EDT (19:19 UTC)
Expired
Sep 17, 1996, 6:00 PM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Cleveland, OH
Area
Whole counties

County Crawford County, PA

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 129 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:19 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

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 142 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 12:00Z on 1996-09-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 12:00Z on 1996-09-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -49 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
532 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-49 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
29 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 171920
FFWCLE
PAC039-172200-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
319 PM EDT TUE SEP 17 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CLEVELAND HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  600 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...CRAWFORD COUNTY
 
VERY HEAVY RAIN CONTINUES TO FALL ACROSS NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA. MORE
THAN TWO INCHES OF RAIN HAD FALLEN IN MEADVILLE SINCE 11 AM. MODERATE
TO HEAVY RAIN WILL CONTINUE TO FALL FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS. TOTAL
RAINFALL MAY EXCEED 4 INCHES BY 6PM.
 
MOST DEATHS IN FLASH FLOODING OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVER`S
THE ROADWAY.  NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A
SMALL ONE...ON FOOT.
 
 
&
RINGO

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

Local storm report, Sep 17, 3:15 PM EDT, 4 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OHIO
314 PM EDT TUE SEP 17 1996

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....
1115 AM    ERIE                      PA   FLOODING
09/17/96   ERIE                           FLOODING AT PARADISE AND
                                          PEACH STREETS AND SOME
                                          BASEMENT FLOODING

1115 AM    ERIE                      PA   FLOODING
09/17/96   ERIE                           SOME STREETS BEING CLOSED
                                          DUE TO FLOODING IN MILL
                                          CREEK TWSHP

1130 AM    ERIE                      PA   FLOODING
09/17/96   ERIE                           12TH STREET FLOODED

1155 AM    ERIE                      PA   FLOODING
09/17/96   ERIE                           CARS FLOATING AWAY ON 12TH
                                          STREET

1205 PM    ERIE                      PA   FLOODING
09/17/96   ERIE                           TWO DOZEN ROADS CLOSED AND
                                          STORM SEWERS BACKED UP

1230 PM    ERIE                      PA   FLOODING
09/17/96   ERIE                           APARTMENT BUILDING AT 38TH
                                          AND ZOOK EVACUATED IN MILL
                                          CREEK

1255 PM    ERIE                      PA   FLOODING
09/17/96   ERIE                           6 BUILDINGS COLLAPSED,
                                          BASEMENTS COLLAPSED, AND
                                          PEOPLE RESCUED FROM ROOF
                                          TOPS IN MILL CREEK TWNSHP.

0115 PM    ERIE                      PA   FLOODING
09/17/96   ERIE                           MOST ROADS CLOSED MILL
                                          CREEK TWSHP AND RED CROSS
                                        L  SHELTERS OPENED. SIX
                                          INCHES OF RAIN MEASURED BY

                                          SKYWARN IN MILL CREEK.

GABRIC

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 17, 10:59 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLEErie2 hr
Sep 17, 11:43 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLEErie3 hr
Sep 17, 12:54 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLECrawford3 hr
Sep 17, 1:34 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLEErie4 hr
Sep 17, 5:45 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLEErie3 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.