Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 88, NWS State College, PA

June 20, 1996Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jun 20, 1996, 2:30 PM EDT for Huntingdon 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 20, 1996, 2:30 PM EDT (18:30 UTC)
Expired
Jun 20, 1996, 5:30 PM EDT
In force
3 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 18:29 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

Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD (KAPG), launched 12:00Z, 6.5 hours before the alert went out and 192 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, Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD at 12:00Z on 1996-06-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 193 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, Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD at 12:00Z on 1996-06-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 34 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
193 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-54 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
639 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
34 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
50 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCTP 201830
FFWCTP
PAC061-202130-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
230 PM EDT THU JUN 20 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  530 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS......
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...NORTHERN HUNTINGDON COUNTY
 
AT 230 PM WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING
TORENTIAL RAIN NEAR PINE GROVE MOUTAIN IN NORTHEAST HUNTINGDON COUNTY.
THIS STORM HAS DROPPED 2 INCHES OF RAIN IN HALF AN HOUR.
 
FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS AND CREEKS IS LIKLEY TO OCCUR AS THIS STORM
MOVES SLOWLY EAST.
 
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 20, 9:36 AM EDT, 4 hours 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 20, 9:36 AM EDT, 4 hours 54 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
930 AM THU JUN 20 1996

SYNOPSIS...5H SHRTWV WILL SLIDE ACROSS PA TODAY.

CCX RADAR SHOWS A FEW ISOL TRW ACROSS W PA. THIS ACTIVITY
ASSOCIATED WITH WIND SHIFT/TROF MOVING INTO W PA ATTM. WRM FRONT
N-S FROM IPT TO MDT WITH LI'S RATHER STABLE EAST OF THIS BNDRY. W
OF FRONT DEWPTS QUITE JUICY...ARND 70.

MESOETA INDICATES BEST CONV 900-800 MB WILL BE ACROSS CENTRAL PA
EARLY THIS AFTN. DYNAMICS WILL SHIFT INTO NE PA BY LATE AFTN.
CLDY SKIES AND LOW-LEVEL COOL AIR WILL REDUCE SVR THREAT ACROSS E
PA. MAIN THREAT WILL BE HVY RAINS FROM SLOW MOVING TRW. PW'S NEAR
1.5 INCHES AND K INDEX APPROACHING 40.

CURRENT FCST AND FLOOD WATCHES LOOK GOOD...PHL/PIT LET ME KNOW IF
SIG CHANGES WILL BE MADE TO NXT PACKAGE.

WINTHER

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 19, 9:04 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPHuntingdon6 hr
Jun 20, 6:37 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPWarren3 hr
Jun 20, 3:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPClinton, Lycoming60 min
Jun 20, 3:48 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPClinton3 hr
Jun 20, 4:16 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPHuntingdon3 hr
Jun 20, 5:11 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPFranklin, Fulton3 hr
Jun 20, 5:16 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPLycoming59 min
Jun 20, 5:46 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPUnion3 hr
Jun 20, 6:14 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPCentre3 hr
Jun 20, 6:41 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPAdams3 hr
Jun 20, 7:33 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPHuntingdon3 hr
Jun 20, 7:38 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPDauphin, Perry67 min
Jun 20, 7:52 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPAdams, Franklin3 hr
Jun 20, 7:52 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPFulton3 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.