Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 176, NWS State College, PA

September 13, 1996Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Sep 13, 1996, 1:42 PM EDT for Huntingdon 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
Sep 13, 1996, 1:42 PM EDT (17:42 UTC)
Expired
Sep 13, 1996, 5:45 PM EDT
In force
4 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 17:41 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 12:00Z, 5.7 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 12:00Z on 1996-09-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 20 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 12:00Z on 1996-09-13The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -136 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
20 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-109 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
639 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-136 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-42 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KCTP 131741
FFWCTP
PAC061-132145-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
142 PM EDT FRI SEP 13 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS......
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...HUNTINGDON COUNTY
 
FLOODING STILL CONTINUES AROUND AUGHWICK CREEK IN HUNTINGDON COUNTY.
THE CREEK IS STILL SLOWLY RISING WHICH MEANS PROBLEMS WILL CONTINUE
FOR SEVERAL MORE HOURS.  HUNTINGDON COUNTY EMA PERSONNEL CONTINUE
TO REPORT CLOSED ROADWAYS.
 
THE HEAVY RAINFALL HAS LONG SINCE ENDED BUT RUNOFF FROM THE HEAVY
RAINFALL LAST NIGHT AND EARLY THIS MORNING CONTINUES TO BE A
PROBLEM.  AN AREA OF LIGHT RAIN SHOWERS MAY MOVE OVER THE AREA
LATE THIS AFTERNOON.  BUT HEAVY RAIN IS NOT ANTICIPATED FROM THESE
SHOWERS.
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS
IMMINENT.  MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS
THE ROADWAY.  NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL
ONE...ON FOOT.  TO ESCAPE RISING WATER MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
GRUMM

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 13, 2:09 AM EDT, 11 hours 33 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 13, 2:09 AM EDT, 11 hours 33 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
210 AM EDT FRI SEP 13 1996

THE COLD FRONT MOVED INTO CENTRAL PA LAST EVENING BUT HAS GROUND TO
A HALT AND IMPULSES IN THE UPPER FLOW HAVE TENDED TO MOVE MOISTURE
NORTH AND EVEN WEST PRODUCING THE TRAINING OF STORMS THAT CAUSED
THE FLOODING OVER THE SOUTH CENTRAL COUNTIES OVERNIGHT.  SURFACE
MOISTURE TENDS TO BE PACKED SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST ALONG THE
MOUNTAINS OUT OF VIRGINIA INTO CENTRAL PA.  THERE IS EVERY REASON
TO BE PESSIMISTIC TODAY AS THE UPPER CUTOFF MOVES SOUTHEAST AND A
STRONG SHORT WAVE COMES EAST ACROSS SOUTHERN OHIO.  LIFTED INDEXES
ARE STRONGLY NEGATIVE.  THE PROBLEM OF THE DAY MAY RELATE TO HOW
MUCH MOISTURE IS AVAILABLE WHICH MAY LIMIT SUNSHINE AND SEVERE
WEATHER AND CONTINUE THE MAIN PROBLEM OF HEAVY RAINS AND FLASH
FLOODS.  TALKED WITH PIT BY PHONE AND CONCUR WITH FLASH FLOOD
WATCHES FOR MANY OF THE CENTRAL COUNTIES THIS MORNING.

DUNHAM

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 12, 9:01 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPBedford, Somerset119 min
Sep 12, 10:30 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPBedford, Somerset5 hr
Sep 12, 11:16 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPFulton4 hr
Sep 12, 11:31 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPHuntingdon3 hr
Sep 13, 1:37 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPFranklin5 hr
Sep 13, 3:03 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPFulton, Huntingdon5 hr
Sep 13, 7:15 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPJuniata, Mifflin4 hr
Sep 13, 7:15 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPPerry4 hr
Sep 13, 7:39 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPHuntingdon6 hr
Sep 13, 7:55 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPFulton3 hr
Sep 13, 11:43 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPCumberland3 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.