Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996
Flash Flood Warning 216, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Dec 1, 1996, 8:25 PM EST for Lancaster 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
- Dec 1, 1996, 8:25 PM EST (01:25 UTC)
- Expired
- Dec 2, 1996, 12:30 AM EST
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lancaster County, PA
The nearest sounding before it
Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 00:00Z, 1.4 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
- 16 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -83 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 458 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 75 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 322 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 347 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.
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 Dec 1, 7:52 PM EST, 33 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Dec 1, 7:52 PM EST, 33 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 750 PM EST SUN DEC 1 1996 ...ZONE SUGGESTIONS/COORDINATION... ...PIT...FRONT SEEMS TO BE HANGING UP FOR THE TIME BEING OVER HUNTINGDON/BEDFORD COUNTIES. WUD WAIT TIL THE BITTER END TO DECIDE WHERE OR NOT TO LET FFA EXPIRE THESE COUNTIES. STILL THINK BEST RAINS WILL BE FURTHER EAST...BUT LONG DURATION TOTALS MAY CAUSE PROBLEMS IF FRONT DOESN'T START TO HAUL SOON. ...PHL...WUD LET FFA REMAIN UNTIL WAVE MOVES OFF DURING WEE HOURS. ...DISCUSSION... FIRST PROBLEM CONCERNS FRONT PASSING THRU LOCAL AREA AND HEAVY RAIN ASSOC. GENERAL 1-2" TOTALS FROM EARLIER TODAY BEING ADDED ON TO BY FRONTAL PRECIP. SMALL STREAMS IN SCHUYLKILL AND LANCASTER OUT OF BANKS AND SEVERAL OTHER LOCATIONS NEAR FLASH FLOOD GUID. FEEL THREAT OF FLOODING WILL PRETTY MUCH CONFINE ITSELF TO SE COUNTIES WHERE MORE HEAVY PRECIP IS POSSIBLE FROM UPSTREAM DEVELOPMENTS. IR SHOT SHOWS ANTICYCLONIC BULGE ON BACK SIDE OF BAROCLINIC ZONE AND LAST FEW FRAMES DEPICT RAPID ENHANCEMENT IN COLD CLOUD TOPS. RADAR SHOWS PRECIP BLOSSOMING BACK INTO SOUTH CTRL PA WITH SOME HITS SHOWING UP ON LDS CHARTS. ALL OF WHICH SEEM TO SUPPORT MODEL GUIDANCE OF INCIPIENT CYCLOGENESIS OVER W.VA. ADAP SHOWS GOOD PRESSURE FALLS OVER ERN PA IN STRONG WARM ADVECTING FLOW. DEVELOPMENT SEEMS TO BE IN RESPONSE TO JET STREAK THAT MESO ETA PROGS TO APPROACH FRONTAL ZONE. AS LEFT FRONT QUAD SLIDES INTO REGION FROM SOUTH...COUPLED JET FEATURE DEVELOPS AND GETS NEW ENTICES NEW WAVE TO FORM ON FRONT...EVENTUALLY TO MOVE TWD NJ AND SRN NEW ENG. AFTER DEALING WITH POTENTIAL FLOODING PROBLEMS...SEVERE WX BECOMES THREAT AS STRONG ENVIRONMENTAL WINDS JUST OFF DECK MANAGE TO MIX DOWN TO SFC UNDER FORCING FROM DEVELOPING CONVECTION. WARNING WAS ISSUED FOR BEDFORD COUNTY AS SRM PRODUCT SHOWED QUICK TIGHTEN UP OF SHEAR OVER COURSE OF 3 VOL SCANS IN SE QUAD OF THUNDERSTORM HEADING UP OUT OF MD. NOT ABLE TO CONFIRM DAMAGE AS YET BUT QUICK HITTING NATURE OF STORMS WILL BE HARD TO GET AHEAD OF. MESO ETA SHOWS COLD AIR ACCELERATING EASTWARD AS WAVE DEEPENS AND MOVES OFF TO EAST. HOURLY PRECIP PLOTS DON'T SHOW MUCH SNOW BUT LARGE SCALE GRIDS HINT AT POSSIBILITY THAT SOME PRECIP MAY HANG BACK AS COLD AIR INVADES. NOT THE BEST SET UP FOR ACCUM SNOW AS MOISTURE AND VERTICAL VELOCITIES WILL BE SHUTTING DOWN QUICKLY AND COLD AIR IS STILL A WAYS OFF...BUT COULD GET SLIPPERY TWD MORNING. NEXT SYSTEM IS ZIPPED EAST BY MODELS POSSIBLY SPREADING LIGHT PRECIP IN HERE TUES. TROF MAINTAINS LOW AMPLITUDE SO PRECIP AMOUNTS SHUD REMAIN MINOR. ITS LATER IN WEEK THAT LOOKS MORE WINTERY. UKMET AND ECMWF CAN'T AGREE ON PLACEMENT OR TIMING BUT EACH PAINTS ITS OWN SCENARIO FOR MAJOR ERN US CYCLOGENESIS. MRF PAINTS ZONAL FLOW AND THAT SEEMS TO BE WHAT NCEP ACCEPTS IN HAND DRAWN PROGS. WEATHER COULD GET WORTH LOOKING FORWARD TOO HERE AS PATTERN UNDERGOES TRANSITION. ...LAKE SNOW OUTLOOK... SUN MIDNIGHT TO 7AM...N... MON 7AM TO 7PM...N... MON 7PM TO 7AM...N... LA CORTE
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Dec 1, 4:31 PM EST, 3 hours 54 minutes before
PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>037-041-042-045- 046-049>053-056>059-063>066-012200- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...WIND ADVISORY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 430 PM EST SUN DEC 1 1996 ...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ALLOWED THE WIND ADVISORY THAT WAS IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA TO EXPIRE... WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN BRISK THROUGH THE EVENING AS A STRONG COLD FRONT SWEEPS ACROSS THE REGION...BUT OVERALL WIND SPEEDS ARE SHOWING SIGNS OF DIMINISHING AND BECOMING MORE LOCALIZED IN NATURE. LA CORTE
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 1, 7:04 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Bedford | 41 min |
| Dec 1, 8:25 PM EST | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Franklin | 4 hr |
| Dec 1, 8:43 PM EST | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Bedford, Blair, Fulton, Huntingdon | 4 hr |
| Dec 1, 9:13 PM EST | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Centre, Clinton, Lycoming, Union | 4 hr |
| Dec 1, 9:13 PM EST | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Tioga | 4 hr |
| Dec 1, 9:34 PM EST | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Juniata, Mifflin, Snyder | 4 hr |
| Dec 1, 10:37 PM EST | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Sullivan | 4 hr |
| Dec 1, 11:09 PM EST | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Schuylkill | 3 hr |
| Dec 2, 12:29 AM EST | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Lancaster | 5 hr |
| Dec 2, 1:16 AM EST | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Huntingdon | 5 hr |
| Dec 2, 2:05 AM EST | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Schuylkill | 4 hr |
| Dec 2, 2:45 AM EST | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Columbia | 3 hr |
| Dec 2, 3:21 AM EST | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Lycoming | 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.