Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997
Flash Flood Warning 18, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 12, 1997, 4:57 PM EDT for Bedford County, Somerset 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
- Aug 12, 1997, 4:57 PM EDT (20:57 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 12, 1997, 8:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Bedford County, PA, Somerset County, PA
The radar
The State College radar (KCCX), 122 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:59 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 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 123 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 544 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 25 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 76 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 140 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCTP 122102 FFWCTP PAC009-111-130000- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 457 PM EDT TUE AUG 12 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 800 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...S... IN PENNSYLVANIA ...NORTHERN BEDFORD COUNTY...SOMERSET COUNTY TORRENTIAL RAIN CONTINUES TO FALL ACROSS NORTHERN AND WESTERN SOMERSET COUNTY AND NORTHWESTERN BEDFORD COUNTY. ADDITIONAL SHOWERS AND STORMS ARE LIKELY TO CONTINUE INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. THE RAIN HAS BEEN ESPECIALLY HEAVY IN THE WINDBER AREA. AREAS EASTWARD TO NEAR BLUE KNOB ARE NOW RECEIVING TORRENTIAL RAIN. PERSONS IN THE WARNING AREAS SHOULD MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND NOW. A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS IMMINENT. MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL ONE...ON FOOT. TO ESCAPE RISING WATER MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND. MARTIN
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 Aug 12, 2:11 PM EDT, 2 hours 46 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 12, 2:11 PM EDT, 2 hours 46 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 210 PM EDT TUE AUG 12 1997 ...SUGGESTIONS... ...PIT/PHL...HAVE TO WORD THE "EVENING" TO DEAL WITH SMALL BATCH OF CONVECTION WHICH SHOULD FOLLOW LI GRADIENT ALONG MD BORDER COUNTIES. ACTIVITY HASN'T SHOWN SIGNS OF SHRINKING OR GROWING. WUD THINK IT WILL DIE OFF WITH LOSS OF HEATING. FOR OVERNIGHT AND WED...LOOKS LIKE BULK OF PRECIP WILL FALL MAINLY OVER OUR CWA FROM AROUND 06-15Z. ONLY SUGGESTION TO ZONE WORDING WOULD BE TO HAVE "RAIN DEVELOPING" TONIGHT...BY AROUND MIDNIGHT WUD PROBABLY WORK IN THE WEST...AFTER MIDNIGHT IN THE EAST. FOR WED WUD DESCRIBE CONDITIONS IMPROVING DURING THE AFTERNOON. WILL LINGER LONGEST OVER FAR SE WHERE MORE GENERALIZED WORDING WUD SUFFICE. ...DISCUSSION... CONFIDENCE IN SIG SEVERE WX OUTBREAK FOR WED DWINDLING WITH TIME AND THE RECEPTION OF THE 12Z PACKAGE. WARM FRONT ALONG MASON-DIXON LINE ACTING TO FOCUS SOME CONVERGENCE AND INSTABILITY SETTING OFF A SMALL AREA OF TRW MOVING THRU SOMERSET CTY INTO BEDFORD. THIS ACTIVITY SHUD MOVE EAST ALONG LI RIBBON AFFECTING MAINLY MD BORDER REGION. FOR THE BIGGER PICTURE WARM FRONT LIFTS NORTH QUICKLY THRU THE REGION BRINGING GENERALIZED BENEFICIAL RAINS OVERNIGHT AND ERLY WED. STRONGEST ISENTROPIC LIFT STILL LOOKS TO SURGE WEST OF CWA BUT SIG LIFT STILL GENERATED OUT AHEAD OF SFC LOW AND ATTENDING UPPER TROF. BOTH ETA AND NGM DEVELOP A PREFRONTAL TROF WHICH THEY USE TO FOCUS BEST RAINS SOMETIME BETWEEN ABOUT 06 AND 15Z. NEW RUN SHOWS PV MAX BEING ABSORBED AND PASSING THRU REGION DURING THE MORNING HOURS. IN FACT BY 18Z ETA AND NGM AGREE IN HAVING REGION UNDER NVA. THINK THIS PUTS KISS OF DEATH ON POTENTIAL FOR WIDESPREAD SEVERE. COLD FRONT AND HIGH THETA-E AIR GET OVERRUN BY THE UPPER TROF THUS LOSING BEST SUPPORT. BUT WITH MUCH OF ERN CWA IN WARM AIR THRU THE DAY...CANNOT LEAVE THUNDER OUT OF THE FORECAST. THINK HOWEVER THAT WORDING COULD BE ENHANCED TO SUGGEST WORST WX WILL BE DURING 1ST HALF OF DAY...AND THAT PM HOURS WILL SEE IMPROVING CONDITIONS. LA CORTE
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 12, 4:29 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Bedford, Somerset | 61 min |
| Aug 12, 5:36 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Bedford, Somerset | 69 min |
| Aug 12, 6:10 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Cambria | 3 hr |
Nearby
Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1997Every flash flood warning in 1997
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.