Alert archive / New Jersey / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 10, NWS New York, NY

July 3, 1996Union County, New Jersey

NWS New York, NY issued this flash flood warning at Jul 3, 1996, 3:54 PM EDT for Union County, New Jersey. It was in force for 96 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 3, 1996, 3:54 PM EDT (19:54 UTC)
Expired
Jul 3, 1996, 5:30 PM EDT
In force
96 min
Issued by
NWS New York, NY
Area
Whole counties

County Union County, NJ

The radar

The Philadelphia radar (KDIX), 80 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:58 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

Brookhaven, NY (KOKX), launched 12:00Z, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 124 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, Brookhaven, NY at 12:00Z on 1996-07-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 584 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, Brookhaven, NY at 12:00Z on 1996-07-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 57 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
584 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-18 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
585 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
57 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
55 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KNYC 031956
FFWNYC
NJC039-032130-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
354 PM EDT WED JUL 3 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEW YORK HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  530 PM EDT
FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY
 
   ...UNION COUNTY
 
THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE AREA ARE PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL AT THIS TIME.
RADAR ESTIMATES THAT OVER 2 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN IN THE PAST HOUR.
THE HEAVY RAIN MAY RESULT IN THE FLOODING OF STREAMS...ROADS AND LOW LYI
AREAS.
 
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.
 
GOUDSWARD/HOGAN
 
 
&

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.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 3, 3:26 PM EDT, 28 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
320 PM EDT WED JUL 3 1996

...SEVERE WEATHER IN NORTHERN NEW HAVEN COUNTY EARLY THIS MORNING...

A LINE OF EAST SOUTHEAST MOVING THUNDERSTORMS THAT PASSED ACROSS
CONNECTICUT THIS MORNING PRODUCED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE IN THE
WATERBURY AND WOLCOTT COMMUNITIES OF EXTREME NORTHERN NEW HAVEN
COUNTY. A TEAM OF METEOROLOGISTS FROM THE FORECAST OFFICE AT UPTON
NEW YORK IS CURRENTLY ON THEIR WAY TO THE REGION AS PART OF AN
OFFICIAL DAMAGE SURVEY.

BASED ON REPORTS FROM LOCAL OFFICIALS...TELEVISION EMPLOYEES AND
SKYWARN SPOTTERS...IT APPEARS THAT A DOWNBURST PRODUCED THE DAMAGE
OVER THE BUCKS HILL SECTION OF WATERBURY THAN HELPED SPAWN A TORNADO
OVER WEST CENTRAL WOLCOTT.

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THAT A "BOW" IN THE
LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS CAUSE THE INTENSIFICATION OF A THUNDERSTORM ON
THE NORTH END OF THE BOW. THIS STORM MOVED ACROSS THE WATERBURY AND
WOLCOTT AREA.

THE FOLLOWING IS WHAT IS KNOWN AT THIS TIME.

THE EVENT OCCURRED BETWEEN 635 AND 645 AM BASED ON RADAR.

NO INJURIES HAVE BEEN REPORTED.

TOTAL DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT SEVERAL HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS.

SEVERAL REPORTS OF MARBLE SIZED HAIL FROM THE PUBLIC WITH A REPORT OF
TENNIS BALL SIZED HAIL HAVE BEEN RECEIVED.

PROPERTY DAMAGE WAS MOSTLY ROOF AND TREE DAMAGE.

SEVERAL THOUSANDS LOST POWER IN THE AREA.

EXTENSIVE ROOF DAMAGE TO THE WATERBURY HIGH SCHOOL GYM WAS DONE.

REPORTS OF A LARGE BUILDING COLLAPSE IN WATERBURY AT AN OIL COMPANY
WAS RECEIVED.

A SKYWARN SPOTTER/PRIVATE METEOROLOGIST/HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER
INVESTIGATION OF THE DAMAGE IN WALCOTT INDICATES DISTINCT TORNADIC
DAMAGE ALONG BEACH ROAD. A PATH...TWISTED DEBRIS AND OPPOSITE
FALLING DIRECTIONS OF THE TREES ON EITHER SIDE OF THE PATH WAS
OBSERVED.

A FINAL REPORT WILL BE ISSUED LATER TONIGHT WHEN THE DAMAGE SURVEY
RETURNS.

THE NWS WISHES TO THANK THE LOCAL NEW HAVEN TELEVISION STATION AND
LOCAL OFFICIALS FOR THEIR COOPERATION DURING THIS EVENT.

TONGUE

The office that day

Everything else NWS New York, NY issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 3, 10:42 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningOKXBergen2 hr
Jul 3, 5:12 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningOKXBergen, Passaic2 hr
Jul 3, 5:18 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningOKXUnion117 min
Jul 3, 5:36 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOKXBergen, Passaic69 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New Jersey, 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.