Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996
Flash Flood Warning 35, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Apr 16, 1996, 3:04 AM EDT for Lancaster County, 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
- Apr 16, 1996, 3:04 AM EDT (07:04 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 16, 1996, 7:00 AM EDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Lancaster County, PA, York County, PA
The radar
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 141 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:06 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, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 139 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
- 2 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 442 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 49 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 601 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 944 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 160705 FFWCTP PAC071-075-107-133-161100- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 304 AM EDT TUE APR 16 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 700 AM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN PENNSYLVANIA ...LANCASTER COUNTY...LEBANON COUNTY...SCHUYLKILL COUNTY ...YORK COUNTY DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUES TO SHOW RAIN...OCCASIONALLY HEAVY...MOVING ACROSS THE AREA. RAIN GAGES IN THESE COUNTIES INDICATE THAT BETWEEN ONE AND TWO INCHES OF RAIN HAS ALREADY FALLEN AS OF 300 AM. MORE RAIN IS MOVING NORTHWARD FROM VIRGINIA...AND WILL GIVE LANCASTER... LEBANON... YORK AND SCHUYLKILL COUNTIES ANOTHER INCH OR SO OF RAIN BETWEEN 300 AND 600 AM. THIS RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS. URBAN AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS WILL ALSO SEE SOME FLOODING. BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE DANGERS OF FLOODS. IF FLOODING IS OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY. MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING. 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 Apr 16, 2:23 AM EDT, 41 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 16, 2:23 AM EDT, 41 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION... CORRECTED DATE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 200 AM EDT TUE APR 16 1996 ...KCCX 88D DOWN UFN... ...PHL ZONES LOOK GOOD... KEEP FLOOD WATCH GOING THIS MORNING AS NEXT BATCH OF RAIN IN WRN PA WILL TRAVERSE ERN PA THIS MORN WHERE SIG RAINS HAVE FALLEN ALREADY. ...PIT ZONES... PIT ZONES FROM PRVS PACKAGE ALSO LOOK FINE. ...DSCN... AREA 88D/S SHWG TWO AREAS OF PRECIP. ONE ACRS WRN PA IN A RATHER WIDE LINEAR BAND AND THE OTHER WORKG ACRS ERN PA LOOKING MORE CONVECTIVE IN NATURE. MOIST LO-LVL SRLY JET RIDING UP OVER A COOLER STBL AIR MASS IN ERN PA WAS FEEDING THE RW AND RW+ ACRS MUCH OF ERN PA INTO NJ. THIS PRECIP WAS SLOWLY SLIDING E AND MODELS KEY ON THIS PRECIP WITH RATHER SIG UVV/S. 850 MB LLJ AND ASSCTD UVV/S ON NGM/ETA SLIDES WELL E OF CTP FA BY 12Z. SECOND BAND OF PRECIP OVR WRN PA WAS NOT CAPTURED WELL BY THE MODELS IN THE UVV FIELDS (OR QPF FIELDS). THIS BAND APPEARS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH LO-LVL CONV AND FRONTOGENISIS NR THE SFC FRNT. ASSCTD DESTABLIZATION ALOFT ALSO WAS LIKELY ENHANCING PRECIP AS COOLING W/ UPR LVL S/W WORKS INTO PA. WV IMAGERY ALSO SHOWED TREMENDOUS DVRG ACRS PA EARLY THIS MORN WHICH WAS NO DOUBT ENHANCING BOTH PRECIP AREAS. THIS OH/TN VLLY UPR S/W WILL PUSH FRNT SYS INTO PA THIS MORN WITH STRG LO-LVL CONV. NGM/ETA TIGHTEN UP LO-LVL BAROCLINIC ZONE ACRS PA AS WELL WITH A BAND OF STRG 850 MB FRONTOGENESIS ACRS THE EXACT CNTR OF THE STATE AT F12. THIS BAND LIFTS NE AND LIES ACRS FAR NERN PA BY 18Z. THINK BACK EDGE OF PRECIP IN WRN PA WILL FOLLOW THIS FRNTL FRCG AND LIE FROM ABT COUDERSPORT TO UNV AND CHAMBERSBURG BY 12Z AND OVR NE CRNR OF PA BY 18Z. BEHIND THIS BATCH OF PRECIP INSTAB RW WILL BREAK OUT WITH VERY COLD AIR ALOFT SETTLING ACRS ST AS UPR LVL LO CNTR IS JUST N OF PA AT 00Z. TOT-TOTAL/S ON NGM REACH 60 IN PIT AT THE SAME TIME INDICATIVE OF THE COLD AIR ALOFT. ALSO... WITH VERY COLD AIR ALOFT... SEE SNOW SHOWERS OVR MTNS OF NRN/WRN PA AS 850 MB ISOTHERMS PLUNGE WELL BLO 0C. FOR TONIGHT... RW/SW TAPERS OFF MOST AREAS EXCEPT NRN MTNS TO LAURELS WHERE MOIST UPSLPE NWRLY FLO CONTINUES. WED LOOKS LIKE IMPROVING WX AS RDG WORKS TWD RGN WITH DRYING AND< SUBSDC. NICOSIA
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 16, 3:04 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Lebanon, Schuylkill | 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.