Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 102, NWS State College, PA

August 14, 1998Elk County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 14, 1998, 7:59 PM EDT for Elk County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 2 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 14, 1998, 7:59 PM EDT (23:59 UTC)
Expired: Aug 14, 1998, 10:00 PM EDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Whole counties

County Elk County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:01 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, 12.0 hours before the alert went out and 166 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: 853 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -17 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 638 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 91 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 113 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 142359
FFWCTP
PAC047-150200-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
759 PM EDT FRI AUG 14 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  ELK COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 1000 PM EDT

* AT 750 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  NEARLY STATIONARY LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS...WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN...
  OVER NORTHERN ELK COUNTY BETWEEN DAHOGA AND WILCOX.

* THE STORMS ARE MOVING VERY SLOWLY AND WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY
  TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS CAPABLE OF CAUSING LOCALIZED FLOODING.
  DOPPLER RADAR INDICATES THAT MORE THAN 3 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN
  IN LESS THAhN ONE HOUR...WITH MORE HEAVY RAIN EXPECTED OVER THE
  SAME AREAS.

* DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD!

LA CORTE


&

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 14, 3:00 PM EDT, 4 hours 59 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 14, 3:00 PM EDT, 4 hours 59 minutes before

CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
300 PM EDT FRI AUG 14 1998

PHLADMCTP SENT TO PIT/PHL AT 245 PM

...DISCUSSION...
SUBTROPICAL JET CONTINUING TO PUMP MID-LEVEL MOISTURE INTO THE AREA
FROM THE OHIO VALLEY AS LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE WRAPS NORTHWESTWARD FROM
THE DE/MD COAST.  SO FAR THE MAIN RESULTS HAVE BEEN COPIOUS CLOUD
COVER AND SCATTERED SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS.  A FEW HOLES HAVE
DEVELOPED IN THE CLOUDS IN THE KBFD/KJST/KAOO AREAS CREATING
SLIGHTLY MORE INSTABLITY AND THUS FAR THE ONLY FOCUSING MECHANISM
FOR THE THUNDERSTORMS. A JET STREAK WAS APPROACHING SW PA THIS
AFTERNOON AND INITIATED A BAND OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER WV.  EXPECT
THINGS TO FLARE UP AS IT MOVES INTO SIMILAR AIR OVER PA TONIGHT WITH
THE HEAVIEST RAIN SOUTH OF A KJST/KIPT LINE.  WITH SLOWER MOVING
CELLS AND POSSIBLE TRAINING ECHOES...WENT WITH A FLASH FLOOD WATCH
FOR PORTIONS OF THE SOUTH (FFG NUMBERS IN THE 3-4 INCH RANGE).

KEPT POPS RUNNING PAST TONIGHT FOR ALL AS EDGE OF PRECIP SHIELD
SLOWLY DRIFTS SE ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA.  THE RAIN SHOULD END IN
THE NW COUNTIES SAT MORNING AND FINALLY TAPER OFF IN THE SE SAT
EVE.  CLOUDS HANG TOUGH THROUGH THE PERIOD FOR ALL BUT NW KEEPING
DIRUNAL TEMPERATURE RANGES SMALL.  WENT NEAR OR SLIGHTLY BELOW FWC
NUMBERS.

THANKS FOR THE COORD PHL AND PIT.

.CTP...FLASH FLOOD WATCH...UNTIL 10 PM...LOWER SUSQ/SC MTNS.

RXR

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 14, 3:23 PM EDT, 4 hours 36 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PENNSYLVANIA
323 PM EDT FRI AUG 14 1998

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

0320 PM    HARRISONVILLE             PA   WIND DAMAGE
08/14/98   FULTON                         TREES DOWN ALONG ROUTE 665
                                          IN HARRISONVILLE. POSSIBLE
                                          BUILDING DAMAGE.

Local storm report, Aug 14, 3:23 PM EDT, 4 hours 36 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT..CORRECTED TIME OF EVENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PENNSYLVANIA
323 PM EDT FRI AUG 14 1998

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

0300 PM    HARRISONVILLE             PA   WIND DAMAGE
08/14/98   FULTON                         TREES DOWN ALONG ROUTE 665
                                          IN HARRISONVILLE. POSSIBLE
                                          BUILDING DAMAGE.

Local storm report, Aug 14, 3:23 PM EDT, 4 hours 36 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT..CORRECTED TIME OF EVENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PENNSYLVANIA
323 PM EDT FRI AUG 14 1998

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

0300 PM    HARRISONVILLE             PA   WIND DAMAGE
08/14/98   FULTON                         TREES DOWN ALONG ROUTE 665
                                          IN HARRISONVILLE. POSSIBLE
                                          BUILDING DAMAGE.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 14, 1:54 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Fulton	51 min
Aug 14, 2:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Franklin, Fulton	32 min
Aug 14, 3:49 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Bedford, Fulton	2 hr
Aug 14, 5:49 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Bedford, Fulton	116 min
Aug 14, 5:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	McKean	62 min
Aug 14, 6:54 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	McKean	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1998 Every flash flood warning in 1998

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.