Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996
Flash Flood Warning 187, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Oct 19, 1996, 6:51 AM EDT for Lancaster 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
- Oct 19, 1996, 6:51 AM EDT (10:51 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 19, 1996, 12:15 PM EDT
- In force
- 5 hr
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lancaster County, PA
The radar
The Dover AFB radar (KDOX), 152 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:53 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, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 157 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
- 466 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 499 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 120 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 200 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.3
- Supercell composite
- 2.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCTP 191054 FFWCTP PAC071-191615- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 651 AM EDT SAT OCT 19 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS EXTENDED THE FLOOD WARNING FOR STREAMS AND CREEKS AS WELL AS POOR DRAINAGE AREAS UNTIL 1215 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN PENNSYLVANIA ...LANCASTER COUNTY DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR CONTINUES TO SHOW RAIN... OCCASIONALLY HEAVY... MOVING ACROSS LANCASTER COUNTY. RAIN IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE ACROSS THE COUNTY THROUGH THE MORNING. RAIN GAGE REPORTS INDICATE THAT BETWEEN 2 AND 4 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN SINCE LAST EVENING ACROSS LANCASTER COUNTY. ADDITIONAL RAIN TODAY WILL ONLY ACT TO AGGREVATE EXISTING FLOODING PROBLEMS. SEVERAL ROADS ARE REPORTED CLOSED IN SALSBURY AND STRASBURG TOWNSHIPS... AND A FEW SMALL STREAMS ARE OUT OF THEIR BANKS. 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. 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 Oct 19, 3:05 AM EDT, 3 hours 46 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Oct 19, 3:05 AM EDT, 3 hours 46 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 300 AM EDT SAT OCT 19 1996 ZONE SUGGESTIONS... CONTINUE FLOOD WATCH TODAY FOR THE MIDDLE AND LOWER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY...BASICALLY ALL OF CTP'S "PHL" ZONES. FOR WESTERN SECTIONS... CONTINUE FLOOD WATCHES FOR CENTRAL MOUNTAINS...AND EAST OF A BLAIR TO FRANKLIN COUNTY LINE IN THE SOUTH. DO NOT ANTICIPATE HEAVY RAIN MOVING BACK INTO LAUREL HIGHLANDS...OR BEDFORD/FULTON COUNTIES. NORTHERN MOUNTAINS IS A TOUGH CALL. GIVEN NEW 94Q AND 94E...MAY BE INCLINED TO THROW ELK CAMERON AND POTTER COS INTO WATCH AS WELL. IFLOWS GAGES IN ELK INDICATE 1.5 TO 2 INCHES IN 12 HOURS. LIMITED GRIDDED DATA TO LOOK AT THIS MORNING...SO WILL HAVE TO DO WITH WHAT IS AVAILABLE. KCCX SHOWS BAND OF MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN EMBEDDED IN THE MAIN RAIN SHIELD CONTINUING FROM CLINTON COUNTY SOUTH THROUGH CENTRE COUNTY AND INTO MIFFLIN COUNTY. THERE IS OBVIOUSLY SOME BRIGHT BAND CONTAMINATION OCCURRING IN THIS AREA...WITH FREEZING/MELTING LEVELS DROPPING. CHANGEOVER TO RAIN SNOW MIX WAS NOTED AT JST A FEW HOURS EARLIER...AND RAIN HAS MIXED WITH SNOW AT AOO. 850 ZERO LINE ON THE NGM CLEARLY DEPICTS THIS TRANSITION AREA WELL. A SPOTTER REPORT INDICATES SOME SLUSHY 1/2 INCH AMOUNTS IN SOME OF THE HILLS AROUND AOO AND JST. MODELS TODAY PAINT YET ANOTHER OMINOUS PICTURE. LOOKS LIKE ALL MODELS PRETTY MUCH CONVERGE AT CUTTING OFF UPPER LOW OVER VA... THEN SLOWLY MOVING THIS FEATURE OUT TO SEA. THE RESULTING SURFACE LOW AND STRONG ATLANTIC FETCH WILL CONTINUE TO ADVECT COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF MOISTURE INTO EASTERN AND CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA. INDICATIONS ARE THAT THE CURRENT TREND OF PCPN WILL CONTINUE...THAT IS A SLOW CUTOFF FROM THE SOUTH AND EAST...AS RAINS PICK UP OVER MIDDLE AND LOWER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY. OVERALL PCPN PATTERN WILL SHIFT TO A W-E ORIENTATION ACROSS NJ INTO CENTRAL PA. MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW A DEVELOPING 50+ KNOT LOW LEVEL JET COMING IN OFF THE ATLANTIC ACROSS NJ INTO EASTERN PA THIS AFTERNOON. MODELS HINT THAT THE BEST UVV/S WILL BE ACROSS EXTREME EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE CTP CWA AND EAST. DO NOT REALLY SEE A GOOD REASON HOWEVER TO THINK THAT PCPN WILL JUST STOP IN EASTERN PA.N THINK BAND OF MORE SIGNIFICANT RAINS WILL CONTINUE INTO CENTRAL PA THIS AFTERNOON...MORE IN LINE WITH THE "HEAVIER" DELINEATION OF THE 94E DISCUSSION. JUNG
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 19, 2:58 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Lancaster | 4 hr |
| Oct 19, 6:20 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Schuylkill | 6 hr |
| Oct 19, 10:51 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Franklin, Huntingdon | 4 hr |
| Oct 19, 12:25 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Schuylkill | 6 hr |
| Oct 19, 2:48 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Huntingdon | 6 hr |
| Oct 19, 6:50 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Schuylkill | 3 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.