Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 182, NWS State College, PA

October 8, 1996York County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Oct 8, 1996, 4:17 PM EDT for York 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
Oct 8, 1996, 4:17 PM EDT (20:17 UTC)
Expired
Oct 8, 1996, 8:15 PM EDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County York County, PA

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:19 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

Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD (KAPG), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 73 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, Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD at 12:00Z on 1996-10-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD at 12:00Z on 1996-10-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -8 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
832 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
105 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 082015
FFWCTP
PAC043-075-107-133-090015-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
417 PM EDT TUE OCT 8 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  815 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...S...
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...DAUPHIN COUNTY...LEBANON COUNTY...SCHUYLKILL COUNTY
   ...YORK COUNTY
 
DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUES TO SHOW HEAVY RAIN FALLING ACROSS A WIDE PORTION
OF THE LOWER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY. AS MUCH AS 3 INCHES OF RAIN HAS BEEN
ESTIMATED BY RADAR FROM YORK UP THROUGH LEBANON COUNTY WITH RADAR
INDICATING INTENSIFICATION OF THE HEAVY RAIN BANDS OVER THE LAST HOUR.
 
WITH ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN EXPECTED THROUGH EVENING SOME LOCALIZED
FLOODING CAN BE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP. MOST AREAS CAN TAKE UP TO AROUND 4
INCHES OF RAIN BEFORE FLOODING BEGINS.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER D
EPTH 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/DUNHAM
 
&

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 Oct 8, 12:57 PM EDT, 3 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 8, 12:57 PM EDT, 3 hours 20 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1255 PM EDT TUE OCT 8 1996

...PHI...CAN SEE WHAT THINGS LOOK LIKE AT 2 PM...BEFORE DECIDING
ON WATCH...

CURRENT DATA AND NEW MODEL RUNS INDICATE STORM AND HEAVIEST RAIN
WILL TRACK FURTHER EAST THAN WE THOUGHT EARLIER...THUS DONT
EXPECT A LOT OF RAIN...UNLESS THINGS GET GOING SOON.

COMBINATION OF CLDS HAVE BEEN MAKING TAFS A LOT OF FUN.  MAY
BREAK OUT LATER THIS AFT.  SO FAR TEMPS HAVE NOT GONE UP MUCH
ACROSS C PA.

IN THE LONG TERM...ENERGY DROPPING INTO MEAN TROUGH POSITION WILL
KEEP COOL AND SOMEWHAT WET WX ACROSS REGION NEXT FEW DAYS.
AIRMASS IS FCST BY NGM TO BECOME A LITTLE UNSTABLE WED AFT...AS
WEAK LOW MOVES ACROSS...AND TEMPS ALOFT COOL...SO A FEW SHOWERS
WILL BE POSSIBLE.  A LARGE VARIATION IN CLDS WILL MAKE FOR A WIDE
RANGE IN THE TEMP DEPT.

MARTIN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 8, 4:17 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPDauphin, Lebanon, Schuylkill4 hr
Oct 8, 4:36 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPLancaster4 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.