Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 133, NWS State College, PA

August 15, 1996Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 15, 1996, 7:09 AM EDT for 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
Aug 15, 1996, 7:09 AM EDT (11:09 UTC)
Expired
Aug 15, 1996, 10:15 AM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Huntingdon County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 56 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:13 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

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 00:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 171 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, Washington/Dulle, VA at 00:00Z on 1996-08-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 665 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Washington/Dulle, VA at 00:00Z on 1996-08-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -21 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
665 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1391 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-64 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 151108
FFWCTP
PAC061-151415-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
709 AM EDT THU AUG 15 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS......
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...HUNTINGDON COUNTY
 
STATE COLLEGE DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED A SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORM OVER THE
MT UNION AREA OF HUNTINGDON COUNTY. RADAR IS ESTIMATING THAT MORE THAN 2
INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN FROM THIS STORM IN THE LAST HOUR. FLOODING OF
POOR DRAINAGE AREAS CAN BE EXPECTED.
 
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.
 
LA CORTE
 
&

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 15, 2:41 AM EDT, 4 hours 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 15, 2:41 AM EDT, 4 hours 28 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
240 AM EDT THU AUG 15 1996

...ZONE SUGGESTIONS...
...PIT...ALREADY COORD...THANKS
...PHL...NO SIG CHANGES TO SUGGEST EXCEPT MAYBE "HUMID" LOWER SUSQ
TODAY

...DISCUSSION...
WELL THUNDER DID END FORMING LATER YESTERDAY...THOUGH NOT WHERE I
EXPECTED. WEAK LOW LEVEL EAST-WEST BOUNDARY SEEMED TO NOT PLAY A
ROLE...RATHER OROGENIC FORCING SEEMED TO RULE WITH ACTIVITY POPPING
IN LOW LEVEL THETA-E RIDGE....PERPENDICULAR TO SFC FRONT. GO
FIGURE.

WIDELY SCATTERED DOWNPOURS HAVE BEEN PULLING AN EVER-READY BUNNY
ACT...BUT FINALLY SEEM TO BE SHOWING SIGNS OF DIMINISHING. SO
LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS IN SPOTS SHUD GIVE UP THE GHOST AND PAVE WAY
FOR MORE ACTION DURING THE DAY TODAY...AGAIN LIKELY TO BE MAINLY
AFTERNOON AND EVENING TYPES AS BEST DYNAMICS STILL LAG TO WEST THRU
LATE DAY.

WHILE FRONT REALLY GOT COOKING OVER UPPER GR LAKES TODAY AND THAT
OFTEN PORTENDS DOOM DOWNSTREAM OVER LOCAL AREA NEXT DAY...I SEE
LITTLE TO GET REAL EXCITED ABOUT FOR TODAY. UPPER WINDS WILL BE
GETTING STRONGER SO ANYTHING THAT DOES FIRE SHOULD NOT MEANDER
ABOUT LIKE IT DID TODAY. NEW MODELS INDICATE FRONT WILL STILL BE
WELL WEST OF REGION EVEN OUT THRU 00Z. LOW LEVEL JET IS JUST
ENTERING WESTERN PA LATE EVENING. PRECIP WATERS AND THETA-E PROGS
ARE NOT TERRIBLY WET OR WARM. VERTICAL THETA-E DIFFERENCES ONLY IN
MID/UPPER TEENS WHICH DOESN'T BODE WELL FOR SEVERE. 850-500MB LAPSE
RATES DO COME UP TO FAVORABLE VALUES ACCORDING TO GRIDDS BUT WIND
DIR SHEAR MINIMAL. WHILE T-TOTALS AND K INDICES MOVE TO VALUES
NECESSARY FOR THUNDER...MODELS SLIDING VORTICITY MINIMA ACROSS
REGION THRU MUCH OF DAYLIGHT HOURS. ABOUT THE MOST IMPRESSIVE
FEATURE TO LATCH ONTO IS JET STREAK SLIDING UP EAST SIDE OF SHORT
WAVE INTO ERN CANADA. THE RIGHT ENTRANCE REGION TO THIS JET STREAK
SLIDES OFF TO OUR NORTH AND ALL MODELS DEVELOP SOME MEASURE OF
UPPER DIVERGENCE ASSOC WITH THIS. SO WOULD EXPECT RW/TRW TO FIRE IN
THETA-E RIDGE AND THEN BE AIDED BY UPPER DIVERGENCE THIS AFTERNOON
INTO THE EVENING.

FRONT SEEMS TO WEAKEN IN TIME BUT MODELS STILL SHOW SOME SORT OF
TROF MOVING THRU FRIDAY WITH LITTLE AIRMASS CHANGE INDICATED. THINK
CHC POPS WUD BE GOOD AGAIN FRI AS LOW LEVEL  AND UPPER LEVEL
FEATURES BEGIN MOVING THRU.

LA CORTE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 14, 8:35 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCentre25 min
Aug 15, 7:06 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPHuntingdon69 min
Aug 15, 3:32 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPWarren73 min
Aug 15, 4:43 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPWarren62 min
Aug 15, 4:56 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCentre94 min
Aug 15, 5:39 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPWarren4 hr
Aug 15, 5:43 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPWarren77 min
Aug 15, 6:16 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPMcKean119 min
Aug 15, 6:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCentre75 min
Aug 15, 6:55 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPElk65 min
Aug 15, 7:44 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPPotter61 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.