Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 84, NWS Pittsburgh, PA

June 19, 1998Mercer County, Pennsylvania

NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jun 19, 1998, 4:59 AM EDT for Mercer 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
Jun 19, 1998, 4:59 AM EDT (08:59 UTC)
Expired
Jun 19, 1998, 7:30 AM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Pittsburgh, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Mercer County, PA

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:58 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, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 100 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 00:00Z on 1998-06-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 261 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 00:00Z on 1998-06-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 57 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KPIT 190859
FFWPIT
PAC085-191130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVIATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
459 AM EDT FRI JUN 19 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 730 AM EDT.

* AT 450 AM... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED AN
  AREA OF VERY HEAVY RAIN NEAR OSBORN IN NORTHERN MERCER COUNTY...
  MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* RADAR SHOWED OVER 2 INCHES OF RAIN HAS ALREADY FALLEN AND
 ADDITIONAL RAINS CAN OCCUR AS THERE ARE MORE STORMS MOVING
 ACROSS THIS AREA OF THE COUNTY FROM THE NORTHWEST.

 OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTY CAN ALSO BE HIT WITH HEAVY RAIN AS THE
 STORMS ARE MOVING TO THE SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

<<CALL TO ACTION>>MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IF FLOOD WATERS THREATEN.

.END/END

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.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 19, 3:51 AM EDT, 1 hour 8 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PENNSYLVANIA
351 AM EDT FRI JUN 19 1998

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

0345 AM    CHAMPION                  PA   .88 INCH HAIL
06/19/98   FAYETTE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 19, 3:08 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZWestmoreland37 min
Jun 19, 3:20 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZFayette40 min
Jun 19, 8:25 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningPBZWestmoreland3 hr
Jun 19, 11:27 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningPBZWestmoreland3 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.