Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 164, NWS State College, PA

September 12, 1996Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Sep 12, 1996, 6:36 AM EDT for Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 5 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
Sep 12, 1996, 6:36 AM EDT (10:36 UTC)
Expired
Sep 12, 1996, 11:45 AM EDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Cumberland County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 105 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:37 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, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 135 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 1996-09-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 337 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, Washington/Dulle, VA at 00:00Z on 1996-09-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -33 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
337 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
613 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-33 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-5 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 Sep 12, 12:48 AM EDT, 5 hours 48 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 12, 12:48 AM EDT, 5 hours 48 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1250 AM EDT THU SEP 12 1996

SHOWERS OFF THE SC COAST MOVING N...UG...A SIGN OF
PROBLEMS...MAYBE.

ISOL SVR OVER WNY...HEADING INTO MORE STABLE AIR AND AWAY FROM
BEST DYNAMICS.  NGM HAS BACKED OFF MOISTURE AHEAD OF COLD FRONT
TODAY...AND LOW LEVEL FLOW IS WEAK...AND FROM THE N...AND DWPTS
NOT THAT HI...SO MAYBE A FEW SHOWERS...EXCEPT MAYBE EXT NW PA
...WHERE A T STORM IS PSBL.

FRONT SLOWLY WORKS ACROSS REGION TODAY AND FRIDAY.  WAVE LIKELY
TO FORM ON FRONT AND TRACK NNW TOWARD REGION ON FRIDAY...AND IT
COULD BE A WET DAY FOR E PA.  WOULD THINK RAIN WOULD TAPER OFF E
PA BY FRI EVEN...AS UL TROUGH GOES NEG.  CAT 3 HUR COULD GET
PULLED NW INTO NEW ENGLAND...GIVEN TILT.  WHILE PA MAY MISS THE
RAIN FROM HUR...PTS FROM ALB NY EASTWARD COULD BE A DIFF STORY.

ETA AND NGM ARE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT WITH OVERALL SIT.

ONCE UL TROUGH GOES THRU LATER THIS WEEKEND...INSTABILTY SHOWERS
WILL BE PSBL...ALONG WITH COOLER TEMPS.  AIRMASS LIKELY TO MODIFY
A LOT.  OTHERWISE A FAIR AMT OF SUNSHINE OVER MUCH OF C PA TIL
THEN.

...LOWER POPS MAY BE NEEDED ON ZNS TODAY AND TONIGHT...AND HIGHER
ON E ZNS FOR FRIDAY..R.MAY BE THE WAY TO GO...

MARTIN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 12, 2:48 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPElk57 min
Sep 12, 3:02 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPMcKean58 min
Sep 12, 3:32 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPPotter58 min
Sep 12, 4:16 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCameron59 min
Sep 12, 4:57 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPPotter63 min
Sep 12, 7:53 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPBedford67 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.