Alert archive / New Jersey / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 1, NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly

January 19, 1996Bucks County, Pennsylvania; 5 counties in New Jersey

NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly issued this flash flood warning at Jan 19, 1996, 10:00 AM EST for Bucks County, Pennsylvania; 5 counties in New Jersey. It was in force for 9 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 19, 1996, 10:00 AM EST (15:00 UTC)
Expired
Jan 19, 1996, 7:00 PM EST
In force
9 hr
Issued by
NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly
Area
Whole counties

Counties Hunterdon County, NJ, Mercer County, NJ, Morris County, NJ, Somerset County, NJ, Warren County, NJ, Bucks County, PA

The nearest sounding before it

Brookhaven, NY (KOKX), launched 12:00Z, 3.0 hours before the alert went out and 167 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 1996-01-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Brookhaven, NY at 12:00Z on 1996-01-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 418 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
534 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
418 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
384 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 KPHL 191450
FFWPHL
PAC011-017-025-029-045-077-089-091-095-101-NJC005-007-015-019-021-023-
025-027-033-035-037-041-DEC003-MDC015-200000-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHILADELPHIA/MT HOLLY NJ
1000 AM EST FRI JAN 19 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PHILADELPHIA/MT HOLLY HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING FOR SMALL STREAMS...URBAN AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 700 PM EST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...

IN  PENNSYLVANIA

   ...CARBON...MONROE...BERKS...LEHIGH...NORTHAMPTON...CHESTER...
   ...MONTGOMERY...BUCKS...DELAWARE...PHILADELPHIA...

IN NEW JERSEY

   ...SUSSEX...WARREN...MORRIS...HUNTERDON...SOMERSET...MIDDLESEX...
   ...MERCER...MONMOUTH...BURLINGTON...CAMDEN...GLOUCESTER...SALEM...

IN DELAWARE

   ...NEW CASTLE...

IN MARYLAND

   ...CECIL...

THE COMBINATION OF STRONG SOUTH WINDS AND MILD TEMPERATURES OVERNIGHT HAS
MELTED A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF THE SNOWPACK.  THIS MELTING OF SNOW AND
SOME LIGHT RAIN SHOWERS AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT HAVE ALREADY
CAUSED MANY SMALL STREAMS IN THE AREA TO APPROACH OR EXCEED BANK FULL.

THE COLD FRONT...NOW MOVING RAPIDLY EASTWARD THROUGH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
...WILL BRING ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINS INTO THE AREA.  THE BAND OF HEAVIER
RAIN WILL BE MOVING EAST INTO THE POCONOS...LEHIGH VALLEY...SOUTHEAST
PENNSYLVANIA...EXTREME NORTHEAST MARYLAND...AND NORTHERN DELAWARE BETWEEN
1000 AM AND NOON.  THE HEAVY RAIN WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD ACROSS NEW
JERSEY BETWEEN NOON AND 200 PM THIS AFTERNOON.  THERE WILL BE A TWO TO
THREE HOUR PERIOD OF MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN OVER THESE AREAS...WHICH WILL
LIKELY PRODUCE RAINFALL TOTALS FROM ONE TO TWO INCHES.  

THIS ADDITIONAL RAIN WILL AGGRAVATE THE PROBLEMS ALREADY CAUSED BY THE
MELTING SNOW...AND WILL LIKELY CAUSE MANY SMALL STREAMS AND TRIBUTARIES
TO OVERFLOW THEIR BANKS.  SPECIFIC FORECASTS FOR TRIBUTARIES AND THEIR
STAGES WILL BE ISSUED AS NECESSARY.

ALSO...THERE WILL BE PONDING OF WATER ON MANY STREETS AND ROADWAYS...
ESPECIALLY WHERE STORM DRAINS ARE STILL BLOCKED BY SNOW AND ICE. 

STRONG SOUTH WINDS AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT HAVE PUSHED WATER UP THE
DELAWARE BAY AND INTO TIDAL PORTIONS OF THE DELAWARE RIVER AND ITS
TRIBUTARIES.  THIS WILL RESULT IN AN ABNORMALLY HIGH TIDE AROUND NOON
TODAY...TWO OR MORE FEET ABOVE NORMAL...ALONG THE LOWER DELAWARE.
FLOODING IS POSSIBLE IN LOW LYING AREAS AS FAR NORTH AS THE RANCOCAS
CREEK IN BURLINGTON COUNTY.

RAIN WILL END FROM WEST TO EAST THIS AFTERNOON...FOLLOWED BY MUCH COLDER
AIR AND PERHAPS SOME SNOW FLURRIES. ANY STANDING WATER LEFT ON ROADWAYS
WILL FREEZE CAUSING ADDITIONAL DRIVING HAZARDS.

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.

AMC

The office that day

Everything else NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 19, 10:00 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningPHICarbon, Monroe, Northampton9 hr
Jan 19, 10:00 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningPHIChester, Delaware9 hr
Jan 19, 10:00 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningPHIPhiladelphia9 hr
Jan 19, 10:00 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningPHIBerks, Lehigh, Montgomery9 hr
Jan 19, 10:00 AM ESTFlash Flood WarningPHIMiddlesex, Monmouth9 hr
Jan 19, 1:46 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPHIBurlington, Monmouth, Ocean44 min
Jan 19, 1:58 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPHIMercer, Middlesex, Somerset47 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in New Jersey, 1996Flash 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.