Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 134, NWS State College, PA

August 15, 1996Warren County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 15, 1996, 5:39 PM EDT for Warren County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 4 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, 5:39 PM EDT (21:39 UTC)
Expired
Aug 15, 1996, 9:45 PM EDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Warren County, PA

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 134 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:43 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

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 133 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, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 1996-08-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 944 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, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 1996-08-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 57 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
944 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-125 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1143 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
57 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
49 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 152139
FFWCTP
PAC123-160145-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
539 PM EDT THU AUG 15 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  945 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS......
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...WARREN COUNTY
 
A SERIES OF SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS HAVE MOVED ACROSS WARREN COUNTY
LATE THIS AFTERNOON. THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING HEAVY RAINS WILL CONTINUE
MOVING ACROSS WARREN COUNTY THROUGH 800 PM.
 
DOPPLER RADAR ESTIMATES THAT 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN OVER
WARREN COUNTY BETWEEN 430 AND 530 PM.  ANOTHER INCH OR MORE IS LIKELY
THROUGH 700 PM.
 
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.
 
JUNG

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, 12:07 PM EDT, 5 hours 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 15, 12:07 PM EDT, 5 hours 32 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1205 PM EDT THU AUG 15 1996

FIRST SET OF STORMS DIED...FEW MORE TRYING TO FIRE NE PA...SE NY
...AND SE PA.

FIRST FRONT TO THE NORTH NOW...MAIN FRONT TO THE WEST...WITH
STRONG CELL N OF L ERIE.  BEST DYNAMICS STAY NW OF CWA THRU
00Z...AND WIND FIELDS NOT REAL STRONG...BUT INSTABILITY REMAINS
HI.

LOOKS LIKE ANYTHING THAT GETS GOING WILL BE OUT OF W PA BY
MIDNIGHT OR SHORTLY LATER...WHILE ACTION COULD FIRE AGAIN ACROSS
E PA FRIDAY AFT...AS THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH COMES THRU.

LOOKS LIKE WE WILL GET THE FRONT THRU FOR THE WKEND...NOT MUCH
MORE THAN A WIND SHIFT LINE/HZ CLEANER...AS AIRMASS MODIFIES.

LOOKS >LIKE SAME OLD PATTERN WILL RELOAD AT SOME PT NEXT WK.

TEMPS NEAR NORMAL THROUGHOUT PERIOD.

MARTIN

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 15, 2:16 PM EDT, 3 hours 23 minutes before
PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>036-160000-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
208 PM EDT THU AUG 15 1996

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM EDT FROM THE
NORTHERN MOUNTAINS TO LAUREL HIGHLANDS...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 800 PM EDT THURSDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES:

WARREN...MCKEAN...POTTER...ELK...CAMERON...CLEARFIELD...NORTHERN

CLINTON...CENTRE...CAMBRIA...BLAIR...HUNTINGDON...MIFFLIN...JUNIATA...

SOMERSET...BEDFORD...FULTON...AND FRANKLIN.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE LARGE DAMAGING HAIL 3/4 OF AN INCH
IN DIAMETER OR LARGER...DAMAGING WINDS OF 58 MPH OR GREATER...
AND DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING.

REMEMBER...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE
FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PEOPLE IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

FITZGERALD

END/LAST NAME

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, 7:09 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPHuntingdon3 hr
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, 5:43 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.