Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 73, NWS State College, PA

June 18, 1996Somerset County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jun 18, 1996, 9:44 PM EDT for Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 3 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, 9:44 PM EDT (01:44 UTC)
Expired
Jun 19, 1996, 12:45 AM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Somerset County, PA

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 00:00Z, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 103 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 00:00Z on 1996-06-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 183 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 00:00Z on 1996-06-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 136 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
183 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-60 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
731 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
136 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
146 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KCTP 190145
FFWCTP
PAC111-190445-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
944 PM EDT TUE JUN 18 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1245 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS......
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...SOUTHEASTERN SOMERSET COUNTY
 
AT 940 PM STATE COLLEGE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO SHOW A SLOW MOVING
THUNDERSTORM BETWEEN MYERSDALE AND ROXBURY. THIS STORM WILL CONTINUE TO
MOVE VERY SLOWLY SOUTHEAST CAUSING TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS AND LOCALIZED
FLOODING ALONG ITS PATH.
 
MOST DEATHS IN FLASH FLOODING 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.
 
LA CORTE
 
&

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, 8:13 PM EDT, 1 hour 31 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 18, 8:13 PM EDT, 1 hour 31 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
810 PM EDT TUE JUN 18 1996

CURRENT FCST LOOK OK...ALONG WITH CURRENT WATCHES...NO CORE
DUMPERS LIKE LAST NIGHT HOWEVER.

SCATTERED STORMS WILL CONTINUE FOR AWHILE...BUT SHOULD DIE DOWN
LATER.

LOOKS LIKE SYSTEM MOVING A LITTLE FASTER NOW...THAN MODELS SHOWED
SUNDAY NIGHT...THUS MAY GET MOST OF THE REAL HEAVY RAIN EAST OF
OUR AREA BY WED AFT...BUT THEN MORE IN THE CHC OF SVR...ALTHOUGH
MID LEVEL FLOW NOT REAL STRONG.

GUESS SE STORM IS FCST NOT TO INTERACT WITH CUTOFF...BUT HAVE TO
WATCH.

MARTIN

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jun 18, 8:24 PM EDT, 1 hour 20 minutes before
PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>036-037-041-042-045-046-
049>053-056>059-063>066-190100-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
825 PM EDT TUE JUN 18 1996

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH THAT WAS IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

THE WATCH THAT INCLUDED CAMERON...CENTRE...CLINTON...CLEARFIELD
...CAMBRIA...ELK AND SOMERSET COUNTIES IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

THE THREAT OF SE"VERE WEATHER HAS ENDED...BUT SOME STORMS MAY STILL
PRODUCE VERY HEAVY RAIN OVERNIGHT.

MARTIN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 18, 8:07 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPFranklin3 hr
Jun 18, 8:28 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPBlair3 hr
Jun 18, 8:36 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPFulton, Huntingdon3 hr
Jun 18, 9:49 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPAdams4 hr
Jun 18, 9:57 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPFulton3 hr
Jun 18, 10:55 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPFranklin, Huntingdon3 hr
Jun 18, 10:55 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPBedford3 hr
Jun 19, 1:00 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPBedford, Fulton, Huntingdon4 hr
Jun 19, 1:00 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPAdams, Franklin4 hr
Jun 19, 1:30 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPYork4 hr
Jun 19, 4:50 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPAdams, Franklin, York6 hr
Jun 19, 8:55 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPHuntingdon6 hr
Jun 19, 2:35 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPHuntingdon6 hr
Jun 19, 5:15 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPBedford, Franklin, Fulton4 hr
Jun 19, 5:15 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPSomerset4 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.