Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 49, NWS Pittsburgh, PA

January 20, 1996Beaver County, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania

NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jan 20, 1996, 4:05 AM EST for Beaver County, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 7 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: Jan 20, 1996, 4:05 AM EST (09:05 UTC)
Expired: Jan 20, 1996, 11:00 AM EST
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: NWS Pittsburgh, PA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Beaver County, PA, Lawrence County, PA

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 35 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:09 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 00:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 52 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 839 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 86 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 78 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 KPIT 200912
FFWPIT
PAC053-073-121-005-007-019-031-051-063-065-129-201600-

FLOOD WARNING FOR STREAMS AND CREEKS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
405 AM EST SAT JAN 20 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS EXTENDED THE FLOOD
WARNING FOR STREAMS AND CREEKS UNTIL 1100 AM EST SATURDAY

FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA

   ...FOREST COUNTY...LAWRENCE COUNTY...VENANGO COUNTY

IN WEST PENNSYLVANIA

   ...ARMSTRONG COUNTY...BEAVER COUNTY...BUTLER COUNTY
   ...CLARION COUNTY...FAYETTE COUNTY...INDIANA COUNTY
   ...JEFFERSON COUNTY...WESTMORELAND COUNTY

MANY STREAMS AND CREEKS WILL CONTINUE TO REMAIN ABOVE FLOOD THROUGH THE
MORNING HOURS BEFORE RECEDING. ICE FLOWING DOWN STREAMS AND CREEKS MAY
JAM...ESPECIALLY IN BENDS OR AT BRIDGES. THIS WOULD FURTHER AGGRAVATE
THE SITUATION.

SO THIS MORNING...CONTINUE TO FOLLOW THESE SAFETY RULES...

DO NOT DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.  MOST DEATHS
OCCUR IN FLOODING IN AUTOMOBILES. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES OR LOW
SPOTS OR ANYWHERE ELSE WHERE WATER MAY BE TOO DEEP TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED
QUICKLY.  NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWINGN STREAM...EVEN A SMALL ONE...
ON FOOT.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 19, 9:05 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	PBZ	Armstrong, Butler, Fayette, Indiana, Westmoreland	7 hr
Jan 19, 9:05 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	PBZ	Clarion, Forest, Jefferson	7 hr
Jan 19, 9:05 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	PBZ	Venango	7 hr
Jan 19, 9:05 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	PBZ	Beaver, Lawrence	7 hr
Jan 20, 4:05 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	PBZ	Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Forest, Venango	7 hr
Jan 20, 4:05 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	PBZ	Fayette, Westmoreland	7 hr
Jan 20, 4:05 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	PBZ	Indiana, Jefferson	7 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1996 Every 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.