Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998
Flash Flood Warning 36, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jan 23, 1998, 6:14 PM EST for Lancaster County, 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
- Jan 23, 1998, 6:14 PM EST (23:14 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 23, 1998, 11:15 PM EST
- In force
- 5 hr
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lancaster County, PA
The nearest sounding before it
Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD (KAPG), launched 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 65 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 533 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 53 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 549 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 835 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCTP 232314 FFWCTP PAC071-240415- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 614 PM EST FRI JAN 23 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1115 PM EST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...... IN PENNSYLVANIA ...LANCASTER COUNTY HEAVY RAIN HAS MOVED OUT OF THE AREA WITH JUST SCATTERED LIGHT RAIN SHOWERS REMAINING. THE SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED TO TAPER OFF AND END BEFORE MIDNIGHT. RAIN GAGES ACROSS THE REGION INDICATE THAT BETWEEN 1 AND 1.75 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN FROM THIS LATEST STORM. WHILE THE HEAVY RAIN HAS ENDED...RUNOFF IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE. AUTOMATED STREAM GAGES IN LANCASTER COUNTY INDICATE WATER LEVELS CONTINUE TO RISE ON REGIONAL STREAMS AND CREEKS. THE GAGE AT MT JOY SHOWS WATER LEVELS APPROACHING FLOOD...AND WITH RUNOFF EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS...THE STREAM IS EXPECTED TO CREST JUST ABOVE FLOOD STAGE LATER THIS EVENING. BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY. MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING. 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 Jan 23, 3:15 PM EST, 2 hours 59 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 23, 3:15 PM EST, 2 hours 59 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 315 PM EST FRI JAN 23 1998 ...SUGGESTIONS... PHL ZONES LOOK FINE. PIT ALTHOUGH SUBSIDENCE INVERSION BASE IS AROUND 6KFT LATER SAT/SAT NIGHT...WE MAY WANT TO INCLUDE SCTD -SHSN IN ADDITION TO FLURRIES. END RAIN IN EVE....GOOD COORD W/PHL AND PIT. THANKS. ...DISCUSSION... LTST SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS WEAK LOW PRES (1013 MB) ACROSS ERN MARYLAND. MDT EASTERLY FLOW OF ATLANTIC MOISTURE BEING LIFTED BENEATH ENTRANCE REGION OF ANTICYCLONICALLY CURVED UPR JET PRODUCED HEALTHY RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF AROUND AN INCH OVER MUCH OF THE AREA (1.5 INCHES IN LANCASTER). MAIN SWATH OF OVERRRUNING RAIN N OF THE LOW WILL LIFT NE OF THE FLOOD WATCH AREA OF SERN PA THIS EVENING. ANOTHER AREA OF RAIN WITHIN A REGION OF MID/UPR LEVEL FRONTOGENESIS WILL MOVE FROM THE WEST CENT COUNTIES...THEN ACRS THE SUSQ VALLEY BETWEEN 23Z AND 04Z. WILL NEED TO MONITOR QPF CLOSELY FROM THIS UPR FRONT MIGRATES EAST ACROSS THE STATE. 12Z MODELS WERE VOID OF THIS FEATURE. FOR NOW RAIN ENDING THIS EVENING LOOKS OK. COLD AIR TRAPPED ACROSS MUCH OF THE REGION WILL BE CARVED OUT BY AN OCCLUDDED FRONT AS IT MOVES EAST LATER TONIGHT. DRYING WILL BE SLOW IN THE BLYR OVERNIGHT...THUS LIGHT UPSLOPE WESTERLY FLOW WILL CREATE AREAS OF DENSE FOG ACROSS THE ALLEGHENY PLATEAU AND LAURELS FROM THE ALREADY LOW CEILINGS AND VSBYS IN SOME AREAS. FAIRLY UNEVENTFUL SATURDAY AHEAD WITH PLENTY OF CLOUDS AND SCTD -SHSN WEST OF THE ALLEGHENY FRONT. LIMITED SUN WILL BREAK THROUGH THE STRATO CU DECK FURTHER EAST FROM WEAK DOWNSLOPE FLOW AND RATHER LOW SUBSID INVRSN. FEW FLURRIES NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION OVER THE ERN COUNTIES DURING MAX HEATING SAT. WEAK CYCLONIC BLYR FLOW AND CONDITIONALLY UNSTABLE AIR WILL CONTINUE THE NEAR NORMAL TEMPS WITH SCTD -SHSN/FLURRIES LATER SAT NIGHT AND SUNDAY. LAMBERT
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jan 23, 3:45 PM EST, 2 hours 29 minutes before
PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>037-041-042- 045-046-049>053-056>059-063>066-232300- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT- WINTER STORM WARNING/ADVISORY EXPIRATION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 345 PM EST FRI JAN 23 1998 ...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ALLOWED THE WINTER STORM WARNINGS AND THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES THAT WERE IN EFFECT FOR MUCH OF THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND MIDDLE AND UPPER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY TO EXPIRE. SECONDARY ROADS MAY REMAIN SLIPPERY INTO THIS EVENING BUT THE PRECIPITATION HAS CHANGED TO RAIN ACROSS ALL OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA. HEAD/LA CORTE
Special weather statement, Jan 23, 3:45 PM EST, 2 hours 29 minutes before
PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>037-041-042- 045-046-049>053-056>059-063>066-232300- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT- WINTER STORM WARNING/ADVISORY EXPIRATION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 345 PM EST FRI JAN 23 1998 ...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ALLOWED THE WINTER STORM WARNINGS AND THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES THAT WERE IN EFFECT FOR MUCH OF THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND MIDDLE AND UPPER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY TO EXPIRE. SECONDARY ROADS MAY REMAIN SLIPPERY INTO THIS EVENING BUT THE PRECIPITATION HAS CHANGED TO RAIN ACROSS ALL OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA. HEAD/LA CORTE
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.