Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 4, NWS State College, PA

February 5, 1997Clearfield County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Feb 5, 1997, 8:10 PM EST for Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 4 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
Feb 5, 1997, 8:10 PM EST (01:10 UTC)
Expired
Feb 6, 1997, 12:15 AM EST
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Clearfield County, PA

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 00:00Z, 1.2 hours before the alert went out and 152 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 1997-02-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 00:00Z on 1997-02-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 46 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
507 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
46 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
49 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 060114
FFWCTP
PAC033-060515-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
810 PM EST WED FEB 5 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1215 AM EST FOR PEOPLE IN THE
FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...CLEARFIELD COUNTY
 
ICE JAMS ALONG THE WEST BRANCH OF THE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER IN CLEARFIELD
WERE CAUSING WATER TO BACK UP ALONG THE RIVER.  SEVERAL ROADS HAVE
ALREADY BEEN CLOSED DUE TO FLOOD WATERS.
 
COUNTY OFFICIALS REPORT THAT THE RIVER HAS RISEN 2 FEET BETWEEN 3 AND
8 PM...AND CONTINUES TO RISE.
 
IF YOU LIVE ALONG A FLOOD PRONE AREA IN CLEARFIELD COUNTY...YOU SHOULD
MONITOR RIVER AND STREAM LEVELS.  ICE JAMS CAN CAUSE RAPID RISES ALONG
STREAMS AND RIVERS.  OTHER LOCATIONS IN CLEARFIELD COUNTY MAY SEE
FLOODING FROM ICE JAMS THIS EVENING.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER lDEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.
 
JUNG
 
&

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 Feb 5, 2:56 PM EST, 5 hours 14 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 5, 2:56 PM EST, 5 hours 14 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
255 PM EST WED FEB 5 1997

...CTP CWA WORKZONES OUT VIA PHLADMCTP TO PIT/PHL...

...DISCUSSION...
15 MIN VSBL IMAGERY SHOWG CLASSIC WRLY FLO CAA PATTERN ACRS PA...
CLDS DEEPER IN WRN PA W/ LIGHT PRECIP. SIGNIFICANT AMNTS OF
MOISTURE TRAPPED BLO INV NR 800 MB RUNNING INTO MTNS OF WRN PA
LEADING TO LIGHT SNOW. SOME PATCHY FREEZING DRIZZLE REPORTED IN
THE CNTRL/NRN MTNS. FCST MODEL SOUNDINGS THRU 0600 UTC TONIGHT AS
WELL AS OBSERVED 1200 UTC PIT SOUNDING REVEAL THAT THE TEMPS IN
THE SATURATED LOWER LAYERS ARE MAINLY -3C TO -9C. THUS... AREAS
WITH SHALLOWER CLDS ARE NOT PRODUCING ENUF ICE CRYSTALS TO
SUPPORT SNOW. THE TEMPS AT WHICH THE CLDS ARE FORMING ARE NOT LOW
ENUF FOR MAXIMUM ICE-CRYSTAL GROWTH (DENDRITIC GROWTH REGIME BTWN
-12C TO -15C). INSTEAD... WARM RAIN PROCESSES WERE LEADING TO THE
LIGHT FZDZ IN THE UPSLOPE AREAS OF NW AND C PA. SO... MENTIONED
PATCHY FZDZ IN WRKZONES FOR WRN MTNS WHICH ARE SEE STRGEST UVV/S
IN THE SATURATED LOW-LVLS.

A SHORT WAVE FEATURE WAS EVIDENT OVR THE MID-WEST ON THE SATL
IMAGERY WHICH WILL SCOOT ACRS PA THIS EVE AND SUPPORT DEEPER CLDS
IN THE LOWER-LVLS. ASCENT FROM THIS WAVE LIKELY WILL ONLY RE-
ENFORCE THE OROGRAPHIC LIFT IN WRN PA. ETA MODEL IN PARTICULAR
SHOWS SIGNS OF THE STRGR OROGRAPHIC LIFT THIS EVE IN WRN PA HVG
A COLD POCKET AT 850 MB FORMING IN A STRIPE ALONG THE APPLCNS IN
ASSCTN WITH HIGHER LOW-LVL RH/S. WITH INV NEAR 850 MB... LIFT OVR
MTNS WAS PRODUCING SIG ADIABATIC COOLING AND MORE SATURATION DOWN
LOW UNDER INV FOR WRN PA. THUS... THINK SN SHWRS WILL INCREASE
THIS EVE FOR AWHILE IN WRN MTNS (HIGHEST POPS LAURELS). AFTER S/W
PASSES E... ACVTY DIMINISHES TO FLURRIES AS WINDS SLOW DOWN INTO
THE MTNS. AREAS E OF MTNS TONIGHT WILL SEE SOME MEASURE OF CLRG
WHICH WILL BE MAXIMIZED OVER THE LWR SUS VLLY. "BUFFER ZONES" RUN
FROM SC MTNS TO UPR SUS VLLY WHERE MENTIONED FLURRIES AND KEPT
CLDS IN LATER.

FOR THURSDAY... UPR LVL RDG AND SFC RDG WORK E IN TANDEM. SEE
SOME CLDS HANGING ARND THE MTNS SO WENT PS AS AREAS E OF MTNS HV
MO SUNNY AS WRLY FLO CONTS.

THURSDAY NGT AND FRI... LOOK QUIET. LARGE TROF AND ASSCTD S/W
FEATRES ACRS THE SWRN U.S PUSHES E. ANTHR NRN STREAM TROF TRIES
TO PRESS SEWRD ACRS THE NERN U.S AND LEADS TO SIGNIFICANT
CONFLUENCE AND A LARGE ANTICYCLONE PUSHING SEWRD TWD PA. SHRT
WV/S FROM THIS LARGE SWRN U.S SYS SIMPLY GET SHEARED APART AS
THEY RIDE INTO THE CONFLUENCE. CONFLUENCE ZONE AT 500 MB REACHS
SRN PA BY F60 SO HV MORE CLDS SRN ZONES THAN NRN ZONES FOR
FRIDAY. CLDS WILL BE MAINLY CI.

...LAKE SNOW OUTLOOK...

7  PM WED TO 7 AM THU...N
7  AM THU TO 7 PM THU...N
7  PM THU TO 7 AM FRI...N

NICOSIA

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.