Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 105, NWS State College, PA

August 15, 1998Bedford County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 15, 1998, 5:24 PM EDT for Bedford 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
Aug 15, 1998, 5:24 PM EDT (21:24 UTC)
Expired
Aug 15, 1998, 8:25 PM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Bedford County, PA

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 9.4 hours before the alert went out and 144 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 12:00Z on 1998-08-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 438 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1998-08-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 40 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
438 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-17 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
645 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
112 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KCTP 152124
FFWCTP
PAC009-160025-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
524 PM EDT SAT AUG 15 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN BEDFORD COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 825 PM EDT

* AT 520 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN NEAR YELLOW CREEK...MOVING
  SLOWLY SOUTHEAST.

* THIS STORM...AND OTHER SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE
  ACROSS NORTHERN BEDFORD COUNTY THROUGH 7 PM...AND WILL CAUSE
  FLOODING OF STREAMS AND CREEKS...AND LOW LYING AND POOR DRAINAGE
  AREAS.

DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHE\RE WATER COVERS THE ROAD!

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 Aug 15, 2:45 PM EDT, 2 hours 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 15, 2:45 PM EDT, 2 hours 39 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
245 PM EDT SAT AUG 15 1998

...WRKZFP (ADMCTP) SENT AT 220 PM EDT...

...DISCUSSION...

CURRENTLY...ISOL TSTM ACROSS N CWA WHILE WIDELY SCATTERED ACTIVITY
HAS DEVELOPED ACROSS THE RIDGES OF S PA THIS AFTN. THIS ACTIVITY
SHOULD SLOWLY DIMINISH THIS EVENING BUT...WEAK COLD FRONT CURRENTLY
NORTH OF LK ERIE WILL SLIDE INTO NW PA THIS EVE BEFORE DISSIPATING
AFTER MIDNIGHT. EXPECT THE FOCUS FOR CONVECTION TO GRADUALLY SHIFT
TO THE NORTH LATER TONIGHT WHERE FRONT PROVIDES BEST SFC CONVERGENCE.

HAD TO BROAD BRUSH FCST TO INCLUDE CHC POPS FOR ALL PERIODS. COLD
FRONT SLIDING INTO N TIER COUNTIES TONIGHT WILL WASH-OUT SUNDAY
MORNING. FCST/A HOWEVER...REMAINS IN HUMID SOMEWHAT UNSTABLE AIRMASS
SO CONTINUED CHC POPS INTO MONDAY. WENT WITH SLIGHTLY HIGHER POPS
ACROSS SE PA DUE TO ITS PROXIMITY WITH FAVORABLE AGEO 3H JET STREAK
CORE CIRCULATION.

WEAK 5H SHRTWVS TO SLIDE ACROSS FCST/A THRU F48 WITH THE AVN
DEPICTING A DECENT SFC WAVE SLIDING ACROSS PA LATE MONDAY AND MONDAY
NIGHT. CONTINUED UNSETTLED INTO TUESDAY AS SFC WAVE DEVELOPS
ACROSS E PA.

.CTP...NONE.

WINTHER

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 14, 9:52 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPElk, McKean3 hr
Aug 15, 12:54 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPElk, McKean3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1998Every 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.