Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 83, NWS State College, PA

June 19, 1996Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jun 19, 1996, 2:35 PM EDT for Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 6 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 19, 1996, 2:35 PM EDT (18:35 UTC)
Expired
Jun 19, 1996, 9:00 PM EDT
In force
6 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 18:38 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 12:00Z, 6.6 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 12:00Z on 1996-06-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 602 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, Washington/Dulle, VA at 12:00Z on 1996-06-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 100 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
602 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
454 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
100 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
121 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 191836
FFWCTP
PAC061-200100-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
235 PM EDT WED JUN 19 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  900 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS......
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...SOUTHERN HUNTINGDON COUNTY
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS EXTENDED THE FLOOD WARNING FOR SOUTHERN
HUNTINGDON COUNTY UNTIL 900 PM THIS EVENING. AUGHWICK CREEK IN SOUTHERN
HUNTINGDON COUNTY CONTINUES TO RISE SLOWLY IN RESPONSE TO HEAVY RAIN
WHICH FELL LAST NIGHT AND THIS MORNING. AT 2 PM AUGHWICK CREEK WAS AT A
LEVEL OF 10.9 FEET AT THE SHIRLEYSBURG GAGE AND RISING SLOWLY...UP ALMOS3 FEET SINCE 7 AM THIS MORNING. THE CREEK SHOULD CREST WITHIN THE NEXT
SEVERAL HOURS THEN BEGIN TO SLOWLY RECEDE.
 
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY TO FORM LATER TODAY AND MAY AFFECT
SOUTHERN HUNTINGDON COUNTY THIS EVENING OR TONIGHT.  SHOULD HEAVY RAIN
RETURN TO THE AUGHWICK CREEK BASIN FLOODING WILL BE PROLONGED.
 
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 19, 2:32 PM EDT, 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 19, 2:32 PM EDT, 3 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
225 PM EDT WED JUN 19 1996

...LOW LEVEL BOUNDARY STUCK OVER PA MORE RAFL TO COME...

RADAR HAS STEADILY SHOWN A DECREASE IN ACTIVITY OVER THE REGION
OVER THE PAST 6 HOURS.  NEW ACTIVITY IS FIRING OVER OH/IN.  SOME
OF THIS ACTIVITY WILL MOVE INTO WRN PA TONIGHT.  THE BIG FORECAST
PROBLEM WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL ALONG THE FRONTAL BNDRY.
IN ERN PA AND PARTS OF WRN PA.

THE MODELS ALL SEEM TO SHOW SUBSTANTIAL MID LEVEL DRYING OVER
MOST OF WESTERN AND NRN PA.  THIS SUGGESTS THAT RAINFALL AMOUNTS
WILL BE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER THAN PREVIOUS NIGHTS OVER MUCH OF WRN
AND NRN PA...HOWEVER...CONVECTION OVER OH WILL LIKELY PROVE THIS
WRONG.   THE MODELS PLACE THE PCPN MAXIMA OVER NERN MOST PA OVER
THE NEXT 36 H.  BASED ON THE LL BNDRY THIS MAXIMA WILL LIKELY
OCCUR FARTHER SOUTH THAN GUIDANCE SUGGESTS.  AT 17Z THE FRONTAL
BNDRY EXTENDED FROM NEAR DCA TO AOO NWD PAST PIT INTO NERN OH AND
MI.  AS IT SLOWLY RETREATS NEWD...THE FOCUS OF HVY PCPN WILL
SHIFT NWED WITH IT.   TO COMPLICATE THINGS...A COASTAL FRONT LIKE
FEATURE WITH WARM MOIST ATL AIR HAS SET UP ALONG THE COAST FROM
THE DELMARVA...NJ...TO ERN LONG ISLAND.

THE THICKNESS FIELD IS DIVERGENT OVER WRN/WCNTRL PA TODAY AND
EARLY TONIGHT.  THIS SUGGESTS THAT AS THE TSTM ACTIVITY IN OH
MOVES OVER WRN PA IT WILL SLIDE S/SEWD ALONG THE LL
BNDRY...FOLLOWING AN ANTICYCLONIC PATH ACROSS THE STATE.  LOCALLY
HEAVY RAIN IS STILL A PROBLEM IN WRN PA...MAINLY NEAR THE BNDRY.

MODELS SUGGEST THAT THE SURGE OF WARM AIR OVER AHEAD OF A PSEUDO
COLD FRONT OVER OH WILL MOVE ACROSS CNTRL PA THUR.  SLIGHTLY
DRIER AIR WILL MOVE ACROSS THE REGION FROM WEST TO EAST THUR.
THE THREAT OF SHOWERS/TSTMS AHEAD OF THIS FEATURE WILL LINGER
THRU THURS AFTN IN CNTRL SECTIONS AND INTO THUR EVE IN EXTREME
ERN SECTIONS.

MODELS SUGGEST UPPER LEVEL CONV AS RIDGE BEGINS TO BUILD IN ALONG
WITH LL DIVERGENCE LATE THURS INTO FRI SUGGESTING PARTLY CLOUDY
SKIES AND A DECREASE IN THE POPS...LATE THUR INTO FRI.  CANT RULE
OUT SCT AFTN TSTMS AGAIN ON FRI.
GRUMM

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, 9:44 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPSomerset3 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, 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.