Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 90, NWS Pittsburgh, PA

June 20, 1998Indiana County, Pennsylvania

NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jun 20, 1998, 12:01 AM EDT for Indiana County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 119 min. 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 20, 1998, 12:01 AM EDT (04:01 UTC)
Expired
Jun 20, 1998, 2:00 AM EDT
In force
119 min
Issued by
NWS Pittsburgh, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Indiana County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:02 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, 4.0 hours before the alert went out and 90 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 1998-06-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 575 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 1998-06-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 52 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
575 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1030 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
52 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
51 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KPIT 200401
FFWPIT
PAC063-200556-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVIATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
1201 AM EDT SAT JUN 20 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  INDIANA COUNTY IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA.

* UNTIL 200 AM EDT.

* BETWEEN 11 PM AND MIDNIGHT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER
  RADAR INDICATED A PERSISTENT AREA OF VERY HEAVY RAIN OVER CENTRAL
  AND SOUTHERN INDIANA COUNTY.

* RAINS OF BETWEEN ONE AND TWO INCHES HAVE BEEN REPORTED NEAR
  THE TOWN OF INDIANA.  RADAR INDICATES THAT AN ADDITIONAL
  INCH OF RAIN IS POSSIBLE OVER THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE COUNTY
  WHICH WILL LIKELY PUSH STREAMS OVER THEIR BANKS.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGER OF FLOODING.

.END/PM


&

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, 8:15 PM EDT, 3 hours 46 minutes before
STORM REPORT...............AMENDED..................
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
815 PM EDT FRI JUN 19 1998

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

0520 AM    BEAVER FALLS              PA   WIND DAMAGE
06/19/98   BEAVER                         MICROBURST
                                          WIDTH 350 YDS LENGTH 700 YDS.
                                          MANY TREES TOPPLED OR SNAPPED.
                                          TWO TELEPHONES SNAPPED. ONE
                                          PORCH BLOWN OFF HOUSE.
                                          ESTIMATED WIND MAXIMUM OF 80
                                          MPH.

0520 AM    BEAVER FALLS              PA   1.00 INCH HAIL
06/19/98   BEAVER
Local storm report, Jun 19, 8:15 PM EDT, 3 hours 46 minutes before
STORM REPORT...............AMENDED..................
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
815 PM EDT FRI JUN 19 1998

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

0520 AM    BEAVER FALLS              PA   WIND DAMAGE
06/19/98   BEAVER                         MICROBURST
                                          WIDTH 350 YDS LENGTH 700 YDS.
                                          MANY TREES TOPPLED OR SNAPPED.
                                          TWO TELEPHONES SNAPPED. ONE
                                          PORCH BLOWN OFF HOUSE.
                                          ESTIMATED WIND MAXIMUM OF 80
                                          MPH.

0520 AM    BEAVER FALLS              PA   1.00 INCH HAIL
06/19/98   BEAVER

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 20, 12:26 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningPBZWestmoreland94 min

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.