Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 103, NWS State College, PA

July 2, 1996Blair County, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jul 2, 1996, 4:31 PM EDT for Blair County, Huntingdon 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
Jul 2, 1996, 4:31 PM EDT (20:31 UTC)
Expired
Jul 2, 1996, 7:30 PM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

Counties Blair County, PA, Huntingdon County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 54 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:18 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, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 164 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 1996-07-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1996-07-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 134 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
1393 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
134 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
173 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 KCTP 022032
FFWCTP
PAC009-013-021-061-111-022330-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
431 PM EDT TUE JUL 2 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  730 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...S...
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...BEDFORD COUNTY...BLAIR COUNTY...HUNTINGDON COUNTY
   ...SOMERSET COUNTY...AND CAMBRIA COUNTY
 
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO BRING HEAVY RAIN TO AREAS OF
SOUTHERN CAMBRIA AND BLAIR COUNTIES. HEAVY RAIN HAS ALSO FALLEN OVER
NORTHERN BEDFORD AND PORTIONS OF HUNTINGDON COUNTIES.
 
A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING HEAVY RAINS IS MOVING ACROSS SOMERSET
COUNTIES.  HEAVY RAINS ARE POSSIBLE WHICH MAY CAUSE FLOODING ALONG
STREAMS...URBAN AREAS AND LOW LYING AREAS.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.
GRUMM/DUNHAM

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 Jul 2, 2:12 PM EDT, 2 hours 19 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 2, 2:12 PM EDT, 2 hours 19 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
210 PM EDT TUE JUL 2 1996

KCCX RADAR SHOWS TSTM CELLS STARTING TO POP OVER WESTERN PA ATTM.
THIS IS THE AREA ASSOCIATED WITH A GOOD MOIST TONGUE AT 850 MB
AND A SKIGT THETA E RIDGE.  ADAP GRAPHICS SHOW LI/S AROUND -10 IN
WESTERN PA...WITH A 20-30 KT 850 MB LLJ MOVES ACROSS THE AREA
LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.  ALREADY HAVE LSR OF SVR HAIL.
EXPECT CELLS TO CONTvINUE TO DEVELOP RAPIDLY ACROSS WESTERN AND
CENTRAL AREAS AS LLJ CONTINUES TO SLIDE EAST.

SELS WATCH BOX JUST ISSUED...WILL KEEP THIS SHORT.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 2, 2:29 PM EDT, 2 hours 2 minutes before
PAZ012-017>019-024>028-033>036-045-049-050-056-063-030100-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
228 PM EDT TUE JUL 2 1996

...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WATCH EFFECTIVE UNTIL 900 PM FOR MUCH OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA...

THE WATCH INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN CENTRAL
PENNSYLVANIA:

ACROSS THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND LAUREL HIGHLANDS...
CLEARFIELD... CENTRE... CLINTON....CAMBRIA AND SOMERSET.

ACROSS THE SOUTH CENTRAL MOUNTAINS... BEDFORD... BLAIR...
FULTON... FRANKLIN... HUNTINGDON... MIFFLIN AND JUNIATA.

ACROSS THE MIDDLE SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY...  UNION AND SNYDER.

ACROSS THE LOWER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY... PERRY.

REMEMBER...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE
FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE WEATHER IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.  A
WARNING ON THE OTHER HAND MEANS SEVERE WEATHER IS OCCURRING OR
IMMINENT.  STAY TUNED TO NOAA WHETHER RADIO FOR THE LATEST
UPDATES...AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

JUNG
Special weather statement, Jul 2, 3:20 PM EDT, 1 hour 11 minutes before
PAZ012-017>019-024>028-033>036-045-049-050-056-030100-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT - CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
320 PM EDT TUE JUL 2 1996

...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WATCH EFFECTIVE UNTIL 900 PM FOR MUCH OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA...

THE WATCH INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN CENTRAL
PENNSYLVANIA:

ACROSS THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND LAUREL HIGHLANDS...
CLEARFIELD... CENTRE... CLINTON....CAMBRIA AND SOMERSET.

ACROSS THE SOUTH CENTRAL MOUNTAINS... BEDFORD... BLAIR...
FULTON... FRANKLIN... HUNTINGDON... MIFFLIN AND JUNIATA.

REMEMBER...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE
FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE WEATHER IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.  A
WARNING ON THE OTHER HAND MEANS SEVERE WEATHER IS OCCURRING OR
IMMINENT.  STAY TUNED TO NOAA WHETHER RADIO FOR THE LATEST
UPDATES...AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

THIS STATEMENT HAS BEEN CORRECTED TO EXCLUDE UNION... SNYDER AND PERRY
COUNTIES.  THESE THREE COUNTIES ARE NOT IN THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WATCH.

JUNG

The office that day

Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 2, 3:55 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPBedford, Blair65 min
Jul 2, 4:00 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCambria, Somerset60 min
Jul 2, 4:13 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPHuntingdon62 min
Jul 2, 4:31 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPBedford, Cambria, Somerset3 hr
Jul 2, 4:44 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPJuniata, Mifflin76 min
Jul 2, 5:00 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCentre, Union60 min
Jul 2, 5:24 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPBedford, Fulton, Huntingdon66 min
Jul 2, 5:46 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPFranklin84 min
Jul 2, 6:33 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCameron, Potter57 min

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.