Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996
Flash Flood Warning 67, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jun 18, 1996, 5:49 PM EDT for Cambria County, Somerset 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
- Jun 18, 1996, 5:49 PM EDT (21:49 UTC)
- Expired
- Jun 18, 1996, 9:45 PM EDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Cambria County, PA, Somerset County, PA
The radar
The State College radar (KCCX), 106 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:49 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
Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 106 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
- 496 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -35 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1096 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 28 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 113 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 132 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.2
- Supercell composite
- 1.5
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCTP 182149 FFWCTP PAC021-111-190145- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 549 PM EDT TUE JUN 18 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 945 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...S... IN PENNSYLVANIA ...CAMBRIA COUNTY...NORTHERN SOMERSET COUNTY AT 545 PM STATE COLLEGE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO SHOW THUNDERSTORMS AND HEAVY RAIN MOVING OUT OF INDIANA COUNTY INTO WESTERN CAMBRIA COUNTY IN THE VICINITY OF JOHNSTOWN...AS WELL AS INTO NORTHERN SOMERSET COUNTY. THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE OVER AREAS AFFECTED BY EARLIER STORMS CREATING LOCALIZED FLOODING PROBLEMS. MORE THAN AN INCH OF RAIN HAS FALLEN IN A SHORT TIME CAUSING SOME SMALLESTREAMS TO OVERFLOW THEIR BANKS. STANDING WATER IN THE STREETS OF JOHNSTOWN HAS ALSO BEEN REPORTED. 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. &
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 Jun 18, 1:38 PM EDT, 4 hours 11 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 18, 1:38 PM EDT, 4 hours 11 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 140 PM EDT TUE JUN 18 1996 ...DISCUSSION... VERY QUICK DISCUSSION AS WE ARE JUST RECOVERING FROM BIG TIME EQUIP PROBS AND STILL TRYING TO CATCH UP. LAST NIGHT'S CONVECTION SEEMS TO HAVE CAUSED SFC BOUNDARY TO SETTLE OVER SRN PART OF REGION. THIS SHOWS UP IN ADAP SSL/SSC/STA PRODUCTS. BOUNDARY SEEMS TO BE SOUTH OF MOST OF CTP CWA WITH 80S AND HUMID OVER SWRN SECTIONS AND COOLER CLAMMY WX MOST OF THE REST OF THE AREA. SEEMS TO BE SOME BOUNDARY ORIENTED NE TO SW OVER OHIO VALLEY WHERE SUNSHINE IS MORE PLENTIFUL AND CONVECTION IS FIRING. QUESTION IS WHERE TO PLACE AXIS OF HEAVIEST PRECIP? HAS ALREADY RAINED ALL DAY UP NORTH AND STNRY BOUNDARY WILL LIKELY CONTINUE THE PRECIP GOING WELL INTO THE EVENING. CONCERN IS THAT PRECIP WILL BECOME MORE CONVECTIVE THUS LOCALLY HEAVY. MODELS MAINTAIN JET ENTRANCE REGION JUST TO OUR NORTH AND EAST THRU MOST OF PROG CYCLE. LOWER BRANCH OF THIS THERMALLY DIRECT TRANSVERSE CIRCULATION HELPS SUPPORT LOW LEVEL BOUNDARY MOVING ONLY SLOWLY ALLOWING IT TO ACT AS LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE ZONE THRU AT LEAST MUCH OF WED. HAVING LIMITED DATA TO WORK MAKES SUGGESTING A BETTER PLACE FOR POSSIBLE FFA EXTENSION OR REFINEMENT DIFFICULT. WILL GO ALONG WITH WFO DECISIONS ON THIS SUBJECT. LA CORTE
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jun 18, 1:51 PM EDT, 3 hours 58 minutes before
PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>036-037-041-042-045-046- 049>053-056>059-063>066-112300- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 150 PM EDT TUE JUN 18 1996 THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN KANSAS CITY HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR A LARGE PORTION OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA UNTIL 800 PM THIS EVENING. THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES ARE INCLUDED IN THE WATCH AREA: ...CAMERON... CENTRE... CLINTON... CLEARFIELD... CAMBRIA... ELK AND SOMERSET A FRONT STALLED ACROSS PENNSYLVANIA AND OHIO IS FOCUSING THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY OVER WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA AND OHIO. THE AIRMASS SOUTH OF THE FRONT IS VERY WARM AND UNSTABLE AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE AND INTENSIFY OVER THE REGION. A FEW OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND POSSIBLY LARGE HAIL. HEAVY DOWNPOURS ARE ALSO LIKELY. SKYWARN SPOTTER NETWORKS MAY NEED TO BE ACTIVATED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. HEA D/LA CORTE
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 17, 8:00 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Lancaster, Lebanon | 3 hr |
| Jun 18, 4:40 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Cambria | 65 min |
| Jun 18, 6:32 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Somerset | 58 min |
| Jun 18, 6:36 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Bedford | 69 min |
| Jun 18, 6:52 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Bedford | 4 hr |
| Jun 18, 7:11 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Adams | 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.