Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 192, NWS Cleveland, OH

September 17, 1996Erie County, Pennsylvania

NWS Cleveland, OH issued this flash flood warning at Sep 17, 1996, 5:45 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: Sep 17, 1996, 5:45 PM EDT (21:45 UTC)
Expired: Sep 17, 1996, 9:00 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 21:49 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 12:00Z, 9.8 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-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: 20 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 534 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 23 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 57 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 172144
FFWCLE
PAC049-180100-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
545 PM EDT TUE SEP 17 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CLEVELAND HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  9 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...ERIE COUNTY
 
AT 544 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED LIGHT TO
MODERATE RAIN FALLING OVER PORTIONS OF ERIE COUNTY IN PENNSYLVANIA.
 
THESE RAINS HAVE BEEN NEARLY STATIONARY OVER NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA
SINCE LATE THIS MORNING...HOWEVER SATELLITE PICTURES AND RADAR
MOVEMENTS INDICATE A GENERAL DECREASE IN THE RAINFALL INTENSITY
OVER THE NEXT 1 OR 2 HOURS.
 
FLOODING IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS
ESPECIALLY OVER THE NORTHERN HALF OF ERIE COUNTY.
 
SKYWARN OBSERVERS REPORTED STREET AND BASEMENT FLOODING STILL
OCCURRING IN FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP...AND SERIOUS FLOODING CONTINUES
IN MILL CREEK TOWNSHIP.
 
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 STREAM...EVEN A SMALL
ONE...ON FOOT.  TO ESCAPE RISING WATER MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
END/COMEAUX

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, 2 hours 30 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 17, 10:59 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CLE	Erie	2 hr
Sep 17, 11:43 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CLE	Erie	3 hr
Sep 17, 12:54 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CLE	Crawford	3 hr
Sep 17, 1:34 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CLE	Erie	4 hr
Sep 17, 3:19 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CLE	Crawford	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 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.