Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998
Flash Flood Warning 81, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jun 19, 1998, 6:41 AM EDT for Bedford 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
- Jun 19, 1998, 6:41 AM EDT (10:41 UTC)
- Expired
- Jun 19, 1998, 11:40 AM EDT
- In force
- 5 hr
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Bedford County, PA
The radar
The State College radar (KCCX), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:45 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 00:00Z, 10.7 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 261 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -158 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1510 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 57 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 150 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCTP 191042 FFWCTP PAC009-191540- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 641 AM EDT FRI JUN 19 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A * FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR... BEDFORD COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA * UNTIL 1140 AM EDT * AT 641 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LARGE COMPLEX OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN BETWEEN WEST END AND BUFFALO MILLS...MOVING SLOWLY SOUTHEAST. * RADAR AND AUTOMATED GAGE REPORTS INDICATE THAT MORE THAN ONE INCH OF RAIN HAS FALLEN IN THE LAST HOUR VERY NEAR BUFFALO MILLS...AND MORE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE OVER THIS AREA. 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 Jun 19, 2:30 AM EDT, 4 hours 11 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 19, 2:30 AM EDT, 4 hours 11 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 230 AM EDT FRI JUN 19 1998 ...WRKZONES WILL BE SENT TO PHL AND PIT VIA ADMCTP...HOPEFULLY BEFORE 3 AM... ...DISCUSSION... TOUGH TO WORD FORECAST TODAY AS TIMING AND PLACEMENT OF CONVECTION WILL BE PROBLEM. ALREADY SOME ACTIVITY FIRING ALONG LEADING EDGE OF BAROCLINIC ZONE WHERE STABILITY IS SLOWLY ERODING. MESO DATA INDICATES STRONG LI GRADIENT SET UP OVER SW PA WITH -2 TO -5 FROM LAURELS TO OHIO BORDER. LAPS AND PSU MESO ANALS SHOW VIRTUALLY NO THETA-E ADVECTION ONE WAY OR ANOTHER WITH LITTLE OR NO CAPE/LI CHANGE IN TIME. THERE IS SOME INDICATION OF WEAK MOISTURE CONVERGENCE STRETCHING FROM SE TO NW ACROSS WRN PA WHICH HELPS EXPLAIN DEVELOPING CONVECTION. ETA SHOWS NW FLOW BREAKING DOWN THRU THE MORNING HOURS AS UPPER RIDGE FLATTENS AND MOVES EAST. THE ASSOC BAROCLINIC ZONE WEAKENS AS WELL WHICH WILL ONLY MAKE TIMING AND PLACEMENT OF DEVELOPING CONVECTION MORE DIFFICULT. FIRST IMPRESSION IS TO BE A TAD MORE PESSIMISTIC MOST OF MY CWA TODAY. FIRST BATCHES OF RW/TRW SHOULD PROBABLY FIZZLE AS LI GRAD WEAKENS IN TIME AND LOW LEVEL FLOW BECOMES MORE WESTERLY. THEN PM HOURS PROB SEE MORE DIURNALLY DRIVEN PRECIP DEVELOP AS HUMID AIR MAKES RETURN OVER MOST OF REGION. ORIENTATION OF RH FIELDS AND UPPER FLOW SUGGEST WORST WX OVER SW PA TAPERING TO BEST WX OVER NE PA. TONIGHT LOOKS MORE INTERESTING THAN MODEL OUTPUT SEEMS TO SUGGEST. FLOW ALOFT GOES WESTERLY WITH ETA PAINTING A COUPLED UPPER JET SETUP SLIDING ACROSS. MODELS STILL SHOW FAIRLY UNSTABLE AIR THRU 06Z WITH NICE LOW LEVEL THETA-E RIDGE POKING NORTHWARD INTO REGION. WHILE VORTICITY ADVECTIONS LOOK WEAK...DECENT LOBE OF HIGH PV AIR IS MADE TO OOZE ACROSS DURING THE OVERNIGHT. BIGGEST FEATURE PROBABLY DRIVING MODEL TENDENCIES TO DRY THINGS OUT IS SHOT OF LOW LEVEL COOL THETA-E ADVECTION. CURRENT WORDING PAINTBRUSHES POPS OVERNIGHT. WILL PROB TRY AND FINE TUNE A BIT TO EMPHASIZE LATTER HALF OF OVERNIGHT BEING WORSE THAN FIRST HALF. LA CORTE
In the hours before
Local storm report, Jun 19, 3:56 AM EDT, 2 hours 45 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PENNSYLVANIA
356 AM EDT FRI JUN 19 1998
TIME(EDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0315 AM MEYERSDALE PA .88 INCH HAIL
06/19/98 SOMERSET SEVEN SPRINGS
LA CORTESpecial weather statement, Jun 19, 4:00 AM EDT, 2 hours 41 minutes before
PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>036-191600- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 4 AM EDT FRI JUN 19 1998 THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY. A WARM FRONT WILL BRING ANOTHER SHOT OF HUMID AIR INTO THE REGION TODAY...AND ALONG WITH IT A CHANCE OF STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. THE BEST CHANCE OF SEVERE STORMS WILL BE WEST OF A LINE FROM ABOUT RIDGWAY TO ALTOONA TO MC CONNELLSBURG. SKYWARN ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATER TODAY. LA CORTE
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 19, 2:47 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Somerset | 48 min |
| Jun 19, 6:32 AM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Somerset | 5 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.