Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 74, NWS State College, PA

May 8, 1998Franklin County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at May 8, 1998, 7:00 PM EDT for Franklin County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 6 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: May 8, 1998, 7:00 PM EDT (23:00 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 1998, 1:00 AM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Whole counties

County Franklin County, PA

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 108 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:01 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

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 112 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: 197 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 446 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 68 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 082301
FFWCTP
PAC055-090500-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
700 PM EDT FRI MAY 8 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A

* FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  FRANKLIN COUNTY - SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 100 AM EDT

* FLOODING EXPECTED AROUND-
  ALL OF FRANKLIN COUNTY

* HEAVY RAIN DURING THE PAST DAY HAS RESULTED IN SOME FLOODING
  ACROSS THE COUNTY. NUMEROUS BASEMENTS ARE FLOODED...AND ROADS ARE
  CLOSED IN WARREN TOWNSHIP AND IN ANTRIM TOWNSHIP. RAIN WILL
  CONTINUE THROUGH MID-EVENING.

IF YOU ARE IN THESE AREAS... MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND. DO NOT DRIVE
THROUGH WATER COVERING THE ROAD.

RESIDENTS OF FRANKLIN COUNTY SHOULD USE CAUTION WHILE
TRAVELING AT NIGHT...AS SOME ROADS AND LOW-LYING AREAS MAY BE
COVERED BY FLOODWATERS.

&
MSE

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 May 8, 3:15 PM EDT, 3 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 8, 3:15 PM EDT, 3 hours 45 minutes before

CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
315 PM EDT FRI MAY 8 1998

...ZONES ALREADY SENT TO PIT/PHL VIA PHLADMCTP...

...DISCUSSION...

ALREADY HAD EXTENSIVE COORDINATION WITH PIT AND PHL CONCERNING
FORECAST.

BASED ON RAFL THAT HAS ALREADY OCCURRED...DECIDED TO GO WITH FLOOD
WATCHES FOR A GOOD PORTION OF THE SOUTH CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND LAUREL
HIGHLANDS.  CALLS TO COUNTIES REPORT STREAMS RUNNING VERY HIGH...AND
SOME PONDING OF WATER IN AGRICULTURAL AREAS.  ALTHOUGH HUGE AMOUNTS
OF RAIN NOT FORECAST FOR THIS AREA TONIGHT...EVEN .25 TO .50 WILL
PROBABLY CAUSE SOME FLOODING.

OVER THE LOWER SUSQ...SATELLITE AND RADAR WOULD SUGGEST THAT SOME
ENHANCED RAIN MAY MOVE INTO THE REGION.  THIS...AGAIN PLUS RAFL THAT
HAS ALREADY FALLEN...WARRANTS A FLOOD WATCH AS WELL.

MANY CONCERNS ABOUT THE FORECAST TONIGHT...WITH UPPER LOW CONTINUING
TO DRIFT SOUTH.  STRONGER CONVECTION FIRING ALONG THE NEW JERSEY
COAST MAY ROB BEST MOISTURE FROM GETTING INTO CENTRAL PA.  IN
ADDITION...GOOD EASTERLY FLOW EVENTUALLY SHIFTS TO THE NORTHEAST
OVERNIGHT.  THIS WILL LIKELY END ANY DEEP ATLANTIC MOISTURE FROM
FEEDER BANDS.

SLOW IMPROVEMENT OF CONDITIONS OVER THE WEEKEND.  DECIDED TO
INCLUDE THUNDER IN THE SOUTHERN TIER COUNTIES SATURDAY WITH LI/S
AGAIN DROPPING TO -1/-2.

JUNG

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.