Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 28, NWS State College, PA

September 11, 1997Cumberland County, Perry County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Sep 11, 1997, 7:46 AM EDT for Cumberland County, Perry 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
Sep 11, 1997, 7:46 AM EDT (11:46 UTC)
Expired
Sep 11, 1997, 10:40 AM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

Counties Cumberland County, PA, Perry County, PA

The nearest sounding before it

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 00:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 148 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, Washington/Dulle, VA at 00:00Z on 1997-09-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 534 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, Washington/Dulle, VA at 00:00Z on 1997-09-11The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 198 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
534 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-21 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
816 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
198 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
272 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
3.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 Sep 11, 2:08 AM EDT, 5 hours 38 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 11, 2:08 AM EDT, 5 hours 38 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
205 AM EDT THU SEP 11 1997

...SUGGESTIONS...
FFA CAN BE DROPPED FOR SC PA SINCE HEAVIER PRECIP WILL HV MOVED N
AND E W/ PASSAGE OF SHRT WAVE BY ZONE TIME.
TODAY... BEST SHOT FOR ANTHR BATCH OF HEAVIER RAIN LATER TODAY WILL
BE SUS VLLY AND POINTS E WUD HV CAT POPS FOR RAIN... PSBL THUNDER.
SHUD BE A BREAK IN THE ACTION THIS AM IN PA. CNTRL/SC MTNS TO NRN
MTNS WILL SEE SHOWERS AND MAYBE A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ESP TWD AFTRN
AND EVE.
TONIGHT...PRECIP SHUD BE WINDING DOWN WITH MAINLY SCTRD ACVTY LEFT
OVER AFTR MIDNIGHT. SUS WILL SEE RAIN TAPERING TO SCTRD ACVTY
LATEST BY 0600 UTC FRI.
FRIDAY...PA UNDER COLD POOL WITH WRLY LL MOIST FLO. THINK SCTRD
SHRA WITH EMPHASIS ON MTN AREAS.

...DISCUSSION...
IR SATL IMAGERY SHOWG COLD TOPS BLOSSOMING OVR PA IN ASSCTN WITH A
SHRT WAVE RIPPLING NORTHWARD ON THE EAST-SIDE OF THE UPR TROF ACRS
THE ERN U.S. AN INTENSE MESOSCALE RAINBAND SET-UP ACRS SC AND C PA
LAST EVE AND ERLY THIS AM JUST W OF THE SUS RIVER AND HAS BEEN
DUMPED VERY HEAVY RAINS IN THESE AREAS. REPORTS OF NUMEROUS ROAD
CLOSINGS... SMALL STREAMS AT BANKFUL AND 2 WATER RESCUES HV BEEN
RECEIVED SO FAR AND EXPECT WE WILL BE RECEIVING MORE REPORTS AS THE
NIGHT WEARS ON. THIS MESOSCALE RAINBAND DVLPED IN ASSCTN W/ LL CONV
AS A MOIST LL ERLY FLO RUNS INTO A MORE NE FLO IN CNTRL PA. KCCX
AND KLWX VWP/S SHOWING ALMOST DUE SOUTH FLO FROM JUST ABV THE SFC
THROUGH 20 KFT. THE RAINBAND WAS ALIGNED PARRALLEL TO THE MEAN WIND
THROUGH THE TROPOSPHERE THUS WE HV BEEN SEEING SIGNIFICANT
TRAINING. W/ THE FREEZING LVL NR 13 KFT AND MUCH OF THE HIGHEST
REFLECTIVITY CORES BLO 10 KFT... THINK EFFIFICENT WARM RAIN
PROCESSES ARE TAKING PLACE AND PRECIP ESTIMATES LIKELY ARE
UNDERDONE. WE HV HAD SOME EVIDENCE OF THIS SO FAR.

THE SHRT WAVE THAT WAS MOVG NORTHWARD ACRS PA WAS DISRUPTING THE
MESOSCALE BAND AND PRODUCING ENUF ASCENT TO SPREAD THE PRECIP OUT
OVR A WIDER AREA IN C/SC PA. THIS WAVE WILL BE N OF CWA BY 1200 UTC
AND CERTAINLY WILL CLR AREAS IN THE FFA BY ZONE TIME... THUS MOST
OF THE HVY RAINS WILL BE GONE BY MORNING AND CUD DROP FLOOD
WATCHES. WE PROBABLY WILL HV FLOOD WARNINGS UP THRU SUNRISE TO CVR
HARD HIT AREAS.

AFTER THIS FIRST WAVE PASSES N... ANTHR ONE APPRCHES PA FOR THE
AFTRN AND EVE HOURS. THIS ONE LIKELY WILL SUPPORT ANTHR BATCH OF
RAINFALL INTO PA AFTER A LULL IN THE ACTION THIS MORNING.
ERN PA STANDS TO SEE THE HEAVIEST PRECIP GIVEN THE PRESENCE OF THE
LL THETA-E RDG WHICH STAYS PARKED IN ERN PA THRU 0000 UTC THIS EVE.
NEXT BATCH OF PRECIP LIKELY WILL EFFECT WRN PA... BUT PROBABLY
WON/T BE AS HEAVY.

AFTER THIS SECOND WAVE MVS N BY THIS EVE... COLD AIR AlLOFT WILL
COVER PA THRU FRIDAY WITH A LL WRLY FLO OF RATHER MOIST AIR TO
SUPPORT SCRTD SHRA... ESP FOR MTNS.

NICOSIA

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 10, 11:30 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPCumberland, Franklin, Perry4 hr
Sep 11, 12:20 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPAdams4 hr
Sep 11, 12:57 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPSnyder, Union4 hr
Sep 11, 12:57 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPJuniata4 hr
Sep 11, 3:27 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPAdams, Cumberland, Perry5 hr
Sep 11, 4:00 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPLancaster4 hr
Sep 11, 4:57 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPJuniata, Snyder3 hr
Sep 11, 10:41 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPCumberland, Perry3 hr
Sep 11, 6:19 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPYork56 min

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.