Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996
Flash Flood Warning 133, NWS State College, PA
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.
- 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
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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 14, 8:35 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Centre | 25 min |
| Aug 15, 7:06 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Huntingdon | 69 min |
| Aug 15, 3:32 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Warren | 73 min |
| Aug 15, 4:43 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Warren | 62 min |
| Aug 15, 4:56 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Centre | 94 min |
| Aug 15, 5:39 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Warren | 4 hr |
| Aug 15, 5:43 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Warren | 77 min |
| Aug 15, 6:16 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | McKean | 119 min |
| Aug 15, 6:30 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Centre | 75 min |
| Aug 15, 6:55 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Elk | 65 min |
| Aug 15, 7:44 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Potter | 61 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.