Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996
Flash Flood Warning 104, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jul 3, 1996, 2:46 PM EDT for Lycoming 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 3, 1996, 2:46 PM EDT (18:46 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 3, 1996, 5:45 PM EDT
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lycoming County, PA
The nearest sounding before it
Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 222 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 15 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 540 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 11 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 15 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 58 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCTP 031847 FFWCTP PAC081-032145- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 246 PM EDT WED JUL 3 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 545 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...... IN PENNSYLVANIA ...SOUTHERN LYCOMING COUNTY A LINE OF SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS OVER SOUTHERN LYCOMING COUNTY HAS PRODUCED UPTO 2 INCHES OF RAIN IN THE PAST HOUR. THESE STORMS ALSO CONTAIN SMALL HAIL. RADAR ESTIMATED RAINFALL RATES NEAR WILLIAMSPORT ARE AROUND 1.5 INCHES. STREET AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING IS LIKELY IN AREAS AFFECTED BY THESE STORMS THIS AFTERNOON....MAINLY IN SOUTHERN LYCOMING COUNTY AND IN THE WILLIAMSPORT AREA. 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. GRUMM
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 3, 9:58 AM EDT, 4 hours 48 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 3, 9:58 AM EDT, 4 hours 48 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 945 AM EDT WED JUL 3 1996 ...KCCX RADAR STILL DOWN... SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS THICKEST CLOUDS MOVING OFF TO EAST...REMNANTS OF THIS AMS TSTMS OVER CNTRL AND ERN PA. BUT LOTS OF LOW CLOUDS WAY BACK INTO OHIO...IT WILL BE AN MOSTLY CLOUDY DAY OVER MOST OF REGION. SFC CHART SHOWS COLD FRONT WORKING ITS WAY ACROSS CNTRL PA. ITS KIND OF A DIFFUSE FRONT WITH DEW POINTS MAINLY IN THE 50S OVER WRN PA AND 60S OVER ERN PA AHEAD OF THE FRONT. LONG WAVE PATTERN SHOWS A TROF OVER THE EAST CENTERED OVER PA...WITH A PV MAX IN IT. VERY CYCLONIC ALOFT...COLD ALOFT WITH HIGH SUN ANGLES...GOOD PATTERN TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT CLOUDS AND PBSL SHWRS...ESPECIALLY AS DAY WEARS ON. BEST CHC BE OVER ELEVATED TERRAIN. 700/850 TEMPS SUPPORT 70S OVER WRN PA AND ABOUT 82 IN SERN PA...BUT SELF DESTRUCT CUMULUS DUE TO CYCLONIC CURVATURE AND SOLAR HEATING WILL CAUSE TEMPS TO STAY LWR THAN THESE VALUES. CLOUDS SHOULD MARKEDLY DECREASE OVERNIGHT WITH MOST LOCATIONS IN THE 40S. SEEMED TO LOSE ALL ETA DATA BLO 700 MB AT 36 H...OTHER MODELS SHOW IT DRYING OUT AFT 06Z THURS. THE 4TH WILL BE COOL WITH MORE CLOUDS THAN SUN. UPPER LEVEL HTS BEGIN TO SLOWLY RISE AS TROF SLOWLY LIFTS OUT. NOT AS CYCLONIC ALOFT BUT STILL COLD AT 850 MB. TEMPS MAINLY UPR 60S NW TO MID 70S SE. I WOULD NOT ELIMINATE THE IDEA OF A PASSING SHWR IN AFTN OVER NRN MTS WITH COLD AIR ALOFT. MODELS SHW GOOD SUBSIDENCE BUT THERE IS SOME INSTABILITY IN SOUNDINGS AND XSECTS ACROSS PA THURS AFTN SUGGESTING SOME LOCATIONS MIGHT SEE A SHWR. GRUMM
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 3, 2:52 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Cambria | 53 min |
| Jul 3, 3:45 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Blair | 60 min |
| Jul 3, 4:16 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Huntingdon | 59 min |
| Jul 3, 4:45 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Cumberland, Franklin, Juniata, Perry | 60 min |
| Jul 3, 5:49 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | York | 56 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.