Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 127, NWS State College, PA

August 8, 1996Blair County, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 8, 1996, 5:01 PM EDT for Blair County, Clearfield 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
Aug 8, 1996, 5:01 PM EDT (21:01 UTC)
Expired
Aug 8, 1996, 8:00 PM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

Counties Blair County, PA, Clearfield County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 40 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:04 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

Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD (KAPG), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 242 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, Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD at 12:00Z on 1996-08-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 81 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, Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD at 12:00Z on 1996-08-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 10 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
81 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-44 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
703 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
31 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 Aug 8, 1:46 PM EDT, 3 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 8, 1:46 PM EDT, 3 hours 15 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
145 PM EDT THU AUG 8 1996

...ZONE SUGGESTIONS...
...PIT...NO SIG CHANGES.
...PHL...WUD BE MORE PESSIMISTIC FRI...ESP LOWER SUSQ

...DISCUSSION...
CONVECTION ERUPTING ON SCHEDULE AS HIGH THETA-E AIR AND SFC TROF
APPROACH FROM THE OHIO VALLEY. ONLY QUESTION IS HOW MUCH CAN
ATMOSPHERE REBOUND IN LIEU OF LEADING SQUALL LINE MOVING EAST
ACROSS NRN ZONES NOW. ADAP SHOWS LI'S AS LOW AS -10 NOSING IN FROM
WEST. MODELS CONTINUE TO PUMP BIG PRECIP WATERS INTO LOCAL AREA AS
SFC FRONT SLIDES EAST. SO FAR SEVERE SIGNATURES HARD TO COME BY
WITH ONLY THE OCNL HIGH VIL. STORMS SHOWING SOME TENDENCY FOR
ROTATION IN PLACES BUT WINDS OFF RADAR REFLECT WEAK ATMOSPHERIC
FLOW.

FFA MAY HAVE TO BE EXTENDED LATER PENDING LATEST DEVELOPMENTS. WITH
BEST DYNAMICS YET TO COME OVERNIGHT...AND FEATURES MOVING INTO
DECELERATING FLOW THE DANGER IS FOR SLOW MOVING DOWNPOURS TO BEGIN
CAUSING FLOODING PROBLEMS.

DRY AIR SHUD BE SLOW TO MOVE EAST INTO PHL ZONES. WUD KEEP CLOUDY
SHOWERY CONDITIONS OVER ERN ZONES THRU AT LEAST A FRI AM HOURS...
POSSIBLY EVEN MOST OF DAY OVER LOWER SUSQ.

LA CORTE

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 8, 3:35 PM EDT, 1 hour 26 minutes before
PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>026-033>035-037-041-045-090200-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
328 PM EDT THU AUG 8 1996

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNITL 10 PM FOR THE
FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA:

WARREN    MCKEAN         ELK            CLINTON
CAMERON   CENTRE         CLEARFIELD     LYCOMING
SULLIVAN  TIOGA          BEDFORD        BLAIR
CAMBRIA   HUNTINGDON     SOMERSET       POTTER

AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT AND THE FLOW OF WARM MOIST AIR AHEAD OF
THIS FRONT WILL PRODUCE THUNDERSTORMS OVER MOST OF PENNSYLVANIA
THIS EVENING AND EARLY TONIGHT.  SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL
PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS...HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.

STAY TUNED TO THE WEATHER CHANNEL...NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR
FAVORITE TV OR RADIO STATION FOR POSSIBLE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WARNINGS.

GRUMM

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 8, 12:54 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPPotter66 min
Aug 8, 1:57 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPWarren63 min
Aug 8, 2:01 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPWarren4 hr
Aug 8, 2:45 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPElk, McKean60 min
Aug 8, 4:16 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCentre, Clearfield59 min
Aug 8, 5:16 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPSomerset59 min
Aug 8, 5:58 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPBlair, Cambria62 min
Aug 8, 6:13 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPSomerset3 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.