Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 30, NWS State College, PA

September 28, 19974 counties in Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Sep 28, 1997, 11:23 PM EDT for 4 counties in Pennsylvania. It was in force for 5 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 28, 1997, 11:23 PM EDT (03:23 UTC)
Expired
Sep 29, 1997, 4:20 AM EDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

Counties Blair County, PA, Cambria County, PA, Centre County, PA, Clearfield County, PA

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 00:00Z, 3.4 hours before the alert went out and 153 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 00:00Z on 1997-09-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Pittsburgh, PA at 00:00Z on 1997-09-29The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 10 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 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
528 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
72 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 KCTP 290325
FFWCTP
PAC013-021-027-033-290820-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1123 PM EDT SUN SEP 28 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 420 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN WEST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA

   ...CLEARFIELD COUNTY
   ...CAMBRIA COUNTY

IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA

   ...CENTRE COUNTY

IN SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA

   ...BLAIR COUNTY
 
AT 1120 PM EDT... DOPPLER RADAR FROM STATE COLLEGE SHOWED A LARGE
AREA OF HEAVY RAINFALL IN THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
MANY LOCATIONS HAVE RECEIVED BETWEEN 1.5 AND 2.5 INCHES OF RAINFALL
SINCE THIS AFTERNOON.

IN CENTRE COUNTY... THERE HAVE BEEN REPORTS OF FLOODED ROADWAYS IN
THE STATE COLLEGE AREA. TANNERYSVILLE AND EBENSBURG IN CAMBRIA
COUNTY AND SEVERAL LOCATIONS IN BLAIR COUNTY ALSO HAVE REPORTED
SOME FLOODED ROADWAYS. A ROCK-SLIDE WAS REPORTED IN THE FERNDALE
AREA OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.

MODERATE TO HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CONTINUE IN CENTRE... CLEARFIELD...
BLAIR AND CAMBRIA COUNTIES UNTIL AROUND 1 AM. THE ADDITIONAL
RAINFALL WILL CONTINUE TO CAUSE FLOODING OF POOR DRAINAGE AND
URBANIZED AREAS.j SOME OF THE SMALLER STREAMS ALSO WILL HAVE
FLOODING PROBLEMS OVERNIGHT.
 
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE
THE DANGERS OF FLOODING. NEVER CROSS A FLOODED ROADWAY IN YOUR
VEHICLE.

NICOSIA
&

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 28, 8:13 PM EDT, 3 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 28, 8:13 PM EDT, 3 hours 10 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
810 PM EDT SUN SEP 28 1997

...SUGGESTIONS...

OVERNIGHT...ZONES LOOK PRETTY GOOD.  WOULD ADD "HEAVY AT TIMES"
WORDING FOR THE MID AND UPPER SUSQ COUNTIES AND NRN MTS.

FOR MONDAY...SUGGEST TO GO MORE PESSIMISTIC AS FAR AS CLOUDS AND
SHOWERS...BUT THIS MAY BE AN OVERNIGHT DECISION.

...DISCUSSION...

AS RAIN EVENT UNFOLDS ACROSS THE AREA THIS EVENING IT IS STARTING
TO BECOME EVIDENT THAT MOST SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL WILL BE ACROSS
THE CENTRAL PORTIONS OF THE STATE.  CURRENT RADAR LOOPS FROM KCCX
AND KLWX SHOWS THAT BEST RAIN IS MORNING INTO THE SOUTHWEST
PORTION OF THE CWA ATTM...CORRESPONDING NICELY TO THE UPWARD
MOTION BULLSEYE DEPICTED BY THE NGM.  IN FACT...THE NGM SEEMS TO
HAVE A GOOD HANDLE OF THE PLACEMENT OF THE SIGNIFICANT RAFL SO
FAR...AND HAVE SHADED THAT WAY IN THE PREPARATION OF QPF
FORECASTS.  HAVE HOWEVER BUMPED UP PCPN AMOUNTS CLOSER TO THE
MESO ETA.  THE MESO ETA SEEMS TO BE DOING A GOOD JOB PICKING OUT
THE DETAIL OF THE LLJ (850) WHICH SEEMS TO BE DRIVING THE BEST
PCPN TONIGHT.  THIS MODEL STRENGTHENS THE LLJ TO 50+ KNOTS BY
06Z.  SFC MOISTURE CONVERGENCE WOULD SUGGEST THE HEAVIEST RAIN
CONTINUING NNEWARD OVERNIGHT...PRODUCING THE HEAVIEST SWATH OF
PCPN FROM SOMERSET THROUGH CENTRE AND IPT INTO THE TIOGA CO.

APPROACHING UPPER LEVEL TROF WILL HELP TO QUICKLY EJECT THE
LIFTING SOUTHERN STREAM DISTURBANCE...AND WINDS ARE WESTERLY BY
12Z TOMORROW...IN EFFECT ENDING THE RAIN ACROSS THE CWA BY
MORNING.  THIS FAST MOVEMENT WILL HELP PRECLUDE RAFL AMOUNT FROM
GETTING TOO OUT OF HAND.  STILL...I AM EXPECTING SOME 1 TO 1.5
INCH AMOUNTS OVERNIGHT IN SOME AREAS...BUT PROBABLY NOTHING OVER
2 INCHES.

FOR TOMORROW...DIVING UL JET AND STRONG CAA WILL KEEP THINGS
MURKY.  ALTHOUGH THERE IS SIGNIFICANT DRYING ABOVE 700 MB...LOW
LEVEL MOISTURE IS VERY ABUNDANT AND CLOUDS SHOULD PREVAIL...ALONG
WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS.  BEST CHANCE OF SEEING SOME SUNSHINE WILL
BE IN THE SOUTHEAST (LOWER SUSQ).

JUNG

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.