Alert archive / Ohio / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 77, NWS Pittsburgh, PA

August 17, 1997Belmont County, Ohio; Ohio County, West Virginia

NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 17, 1997, 6:05 PM EDT for Belmont County, Ohio; Ohio County, West Virginia. 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: Aug 17, 1997, 6:05 PM EDT (22:05 UTC)
Expired: Aug 17, 1997, 10:00 PM EDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Pittsburgh, PA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Belmont County, OH, Ohio County, WV

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 73 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:07 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, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 71 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 901 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 70 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 221 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 KPIT 172204
FFWPIT
OHC013-059-WVC069-180200-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
605 PM EDT SUN AUG 17 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1000 PM EDT
FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL OHIO
 
   ...BELMONT COUNTY...GUERNSEY COUNTY
 
 
IN THE WEST VIRGINIA PANHANDLE
 
   ...OHIO COUNTY
 
THUNDERSTORMS ARE TRAINING TO THE EAST ACROSS BELMONT AND GUERNSEY
COUNTIES AND INTO OHIO COUNTY IN THE NORTHERN PANHANDLE OF WEST
VIRGINIA. ONE TO ONE AND A HALF INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN ACROSS THE
WARNING AREA AS OF 6PM. ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL IS POSSIBLE UNTIL 800
PM. AN ADDITIONAL ONE INCH OF RAIN IN AN HOUR WILL BRING STREAMS AND
CREEKS OUT OF THEIR BANKS.
 
RESIDENTS ALONG STREAMS AND CREEKS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT FOR RAPIDLY
RISING STREAM LEVELS.
 
BE CAREFUL AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE DANGER OF
FLOODS.  IF YOU GET ANY INDICATION THAT FLOODS ARE
APPROACHING...QUICKLY  MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS.  DO NOT STAY
IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.

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.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 17, 2:58 PM EDT, 3 hours 7 minutes before

STORM REPORT      .........CORRECTED........
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
100 AM EDT SUN AUG 17 1997

TIME(EST)  ....CITY LOCATION....     STATE...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ...COUNTY LOCATION...

0612 PM    DERRY                     PA   TORNADO
08/15/97   WESTMORELAND                   ***0 DEAD, 6 MINOR INJ***
                                          PATH LENGTH 3.5 MILES.
                                          AVERAGE WIDTH 100 YARDS.
                                          WINDS ESTIMATED BETWEEN 90 MPH
                                          AND 120 MPH. ATTAINED WEAK F2
                                          STATUS FOR BRIEF PORTION OF
                                          ITS LIFE. PATH EXTENDED FROM
                                          APPROXIMATELY 1 MILE WEST OF
                                          DERRY TO 0.75 NORTHEAST OF
                                          MILLWOOD. APPROXIMATELLY 7-8
                                          MOBILE HOMES WERE DESTROYED
                                          (2-3 WERE COMPLETELY
                                          DESTROYED). 10-12 MOBILE
                                          HOMES WITH MAJOR DAMAGE
                                          AND ANOTHER 15 TO 18 WITH
                                          MINOR DAMAGE. 4 SEPARATE
                                          MOBILE HOME PARKS WERE
                                          AFFECTED. 1 CHURCH DESTROYED.
                                          1 FRAME HOUSE WITH MAJOR
                                          DAMAGE. 1 BUSINESS LOST ROOF.
                                          NUMEROUS TREES DOWN BOTH
                                          UPROOTED AND SNAPPED OFF.
                                          HIGH SCHOOL STADIUM BLEACHERS
                                          COMPLETELY DESTROYED.

0600 PM    LATROBE                   PA   WIND DAMAGE
08/15/97   WESTMORELAND                   TREES DOWN. SHED DESTROYED.
                                          AWNINGS.

CORRECTED TO CHANGE WIDTH TO 100 YARDS AND 6 MINOR INJURIES VERSUS 2.

KANE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 16, 8:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Jefferson	57 min
Aug 16, 9:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Belmont, Guernsey	42 min
Aug 16, 9:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Muskingum	42 min
Aug 16, 9:28 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Monroe, Noble	2 hr
Aug 17, 6:05 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	PBZ	Guernsey	4 hr
Aug 16, 8:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Brooke	33 min
Aug 16, 9:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Marshall, Ohio	67 min
Aug 16, 10:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Wetzel	68 min
Aug 16, 10:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Monongalia	60 min
Aug 16, 10:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Preston	98 min
Aug 16, 11:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Tucker	64 min
Aug 17, 3:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Ohio	25 min
Aug 17, 4:54 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Ohio	51 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Ohio, 1997 Flash Flood Warnings in West Virginia, 1997 Every 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.