Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 193, NWS State College, PA

October 20, 1996Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Oct 20, 1996, 5:00 AM EDT for Huntingdon 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 20, 1996, 5:00 AM EDT (09:00 UTC)
Expired
Oct 20, 1996, 10:00 AM EDT
In force
5 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 08:59 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, 9.0 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 00:00Z on 1996-10-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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 1996-10-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 168 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
592 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
168 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
322 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 200901
FFWCTP
PAC061-201400-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
500 AM EDT SUN OCT 20 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS EXTENDED THE
FLOOD WARNING UNTIL 1000 AM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
LOCATIONS...
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...HUNTINGDON COUNTY
 
AREA STREAMS AND CREEKS CONTINUE TO RUN HIGH THIS MORNING ACROSS
HUNTINGDON COUNTY FROM RAINFALL DURING THE LAST DAY. AUGHWICK CREEK AT
SHIRLEYSBURG WAS AT 11.2 FEET AND FALLING SLOWLY AT 500 AM THIS MORNING.
SEVEREAL ROADS REMAIN CLOSED.
 
ONLY LIGHT RAIN IS ANTICIPATED TODAY...AND CREEKS AND STREAMS SHOULD
CONTINUE TO FALL THROUGHOUT THE MORNING.
 
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.
 
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 20, 2:52 AM EDT, 2 hours 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 20, 2:52 AM EDT, 2 hours 8 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
245 AM EDT SUN OCT 20 1996

CURRENT SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS SURFACE LOW SOMEWHERE IN THE
VICINITY OF MDT...PROBABLY A LITTLE NORTH OF THE AIRPORT.  THIS
POSITION CONTINUES TO BE A BIT FARTHER NORTH THAN THE MODEL
POSITIONS.

VERY INTENSE AND VERTICALLY STACKED SYSTEM WILL MAKE LITTLE
EFFORT TO LEAVE THE AREA OVER THE NEXT 48 HRS.  LOW IS FORECAST
TO DRIFT SLOWLY TO THE NORTH AND FILL WITH TIME.

THIS FORECAST SEEMS TO BE ONE OF THOSE WHERE KEEPING IT SIMPLE IS
BETTER THAN TRYING TO TIME SPECIFIC RAIN EVENTS.  DIRECT ATLANTIC
MOISTURE TAP IS NOW CUT OFF FOR THE AREA WITH NORTHEAST FLOW
ALOFT ESTABLISHED.  SYSTEM CONTINUES TO BE VERY EFFICIENT IN
PULLING MOISTURE AROUND IT/S BACKSIDE...AND INTO PA.  PCPN
ACTUALLY SEEMS TO BE AT A MIN UNDER THE LOW CENTER ATTM...WITH
KCCX SHOWING THE MOST SIGNIFICANT RAINS IN THE CTP CWA WRAPPING
FROM BFD SOUTHWEST TO JST.  KCCX AND IFLOWS INDICATE THAT THREE
HOUR RAFL AMOUNTS GENERALLY .10 TO .20.

I DON/T SEE ANY POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAINS MOVING BACK INTO THE
AREA...JUST A STEADY LIGHT TYPE OF PCPN.  IT IS VIRTUALLY
IMPOSSIBLE TO TRY TO TIME INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS AND SHORTWAVES
SPINNING AROUND THE UPPER LOW TODAY.  OBS WOULD ALSO INDICATE
THAT PCPN IS EVEN MORE WIDESPREAD THAN RADAR WOULD INDICATE...
WITH EVERY LOCATION REPORTING PCPN.  EXPECT THIS TO BE ONE OF
THOSE EVENTS THAT RAIN VERY SLOWLY DECREASES AND BECOMES SHOWERY
WITH TIME...AND LOW CLOUDS HANG TOUGH INTO MONDAY.

FOR THE ZONES...WOULD GO WITH A PRETTY GENERIC "PERIODS OF LIGHT
RAIN" TYPE FORECAST TODAY.  AS FAR AS SNOW IS CONCERNED...
ATMOSPHERE CONTINUES TO WARM AS SYSTEM FILLS.  ZERO 850 LINE
SCOOTS SOUTH OF PA THIS MORNING...WITH TEMPS RISING SLOWLY
THROUGH THE FCST PERIOD.  IT IS TOUGH TO SAY WHAT IS HAPPENING ON
THE RIDGES TONIGHT WITHOUT ANY DIRECT OBS...BUT I WOULD SUSPECT
THAT SNOW IS MINIMAL.  TEMPS SEEM 3-5 DEGREES WARMER THAN LAST
NIGHT WHEN JST/AOO AND UNV HAD SNOW.  WOULD NOT MENTION SNOW IN
PUBLIC ZONES TODAY.

AS FOR TEMPS...MOS SEEMS TOO HIGH...AND WOULD TRIM TEMPS BACK.
SEE THAT PIT IS THINKING SIMILARLY.

JUNG

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 19, 9:05 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPHuntingdon8 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.