Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996
Flash Flood Warning 178, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Sep 17, 1996, 4:45 PM EDT for Potter 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 17, 1996, 4:45 PM EDT (20:45 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 17, 1996, 9:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Potter County, PA
The radar
The State College radar (KCCX), 92 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:48 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, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 147 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
- 20 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 534 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 29 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 23 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 57 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 172045 FFWCTP PAC105-180100- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 445 PM EDT TUE SEP 17 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 900 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...... IN PENNSYLVANIA ...POTTER COUNTY DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED A PERSISTANT AREA OF HEAVY RAIN OVER THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF POTTER COUNTY. THE HEAVY RAIN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH LATE AFTERNOON ACROSS THESE AREAS. ANOTHER BATCH OF HEAVY RAIN THAT WAS ACROSS WARREN AND ELK COUNTIES WILL MOVE EAST AND AFFECT POTTER COUNTY EARLY THIS EVENING. ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL FROM LATE AFTERNOON INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS LIKELY WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS. 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. MOST DEATHS IN FLASH FLOODING 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. NICOSIA
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 17, 2:31 PM EDT, 2 hours 14 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Sep 17, 2:31 PM EDT, 2 hours 14 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 230 PM EDT TUE SEP 17 1996 PATCHY -RA/-DZ CONTINUES ACROSS REGION. RAIN BECOMING MORE WIDESPREAD ACROSS NW PA AS A SHRTWV MOVES INTO W SECTIONS OF THE STATE. DEEP WRAP ARND MOISTURE CONTINUES TO ADVECT WESTWARD ACROSS CWA AS SFC LOW SPINS ALONG NJ COAST. SPOTTY RAIN AND DRIZZLE WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE CWA OVERNIGHT. BOTH THE ETA/NGM GRADUALLY DRY THE FCST/A OUT ON WEDNESDAY AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN. CLOUDY SKIES ON WED WITH SPOTTY LIGHT RAIN THEN PARTIAL CLEARING DURING THE AFTERNOON. IT WILL ALSO BE WINDY ACROSS E CWA AS GRADIENT FROM TO THE WEST AND LOW TO THE EAST COMBINE TO PRODUCE BRISK NORTHWEST WI,NDS. SKIES CLEAR WEDNESDAY NIGHT THEN SUNNY SKIES SHOULD PREVAIL ON THURSDAY. WINTHER
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 17, 4:15 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Warren | 5 hr |
| Sep 17, 6:38 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Lycoming | 4 hr |
| Sep 17, 7:10 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | McKean | 4 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.