Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1999

Flash Flood Warning 10, NWS State College, PA

January 23, 19994 counties in Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jan 23, 1999, 5:25 PM EST for 4 counties in 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
Jan 23, 1999, 5:25 PM EST (22:25 UTC)
Expired
Jan 23, 1999, 11:25 PM EST
In force
6 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

Counties Bedford County, PA, Blair County, PA, Cambria County, PA, Clearfield County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 64 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:29 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 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 135 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 12:00Z on 1999-01-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 12:00Z on 1999-01-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 581 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
947 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
62 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
581 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
627 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 232226
FFWCTP
PAC009-013-021-033-111-240425-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
525 PM EST SAT JAN 23 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  CLEARFIELD COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA.
  CAMBRIA COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA.
  SOMERSET COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA.
  BLAIR COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA.
  BEDFORD COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA.

* UNTIL 1125 PM EST.

* AT 520 PM EST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  BANDS OF HEAVY RAIN WORKING ACROSS THE LAUREL HIGHLANDS AND SOUTH
  CENTRAL MOUNTAINS.  THIS RAIN...IN COMBINATION WITH MELTING
  SNOW...WILL CAUSE FLOODING OF AREA STREAMS AND CREEKS.  THE RAIN
  AND SNOWMELT IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE EVENING HOURS.

DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD!  BE ALERT FOR
ICE JAM FLOODING...WHICH CAN CAUS\E RAPID RISES ON STREAMS AND
CREEKS.

.END/DNM/DN

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, 2:30 PM EST, 2 hours 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 23, 2:30 PM EST, 2 hours 55 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
230 PM EST SAT JAN 23 1999

...QPS...KEPTED FAIRLY CLOSE TO WHAT WE HAD EARLIER...USE
1238 PM VERSION...NOT 1228 PM VERSION...AS 1228 PM WAS SENT
BY MISTAKE...

...WORK ZONES BY 3 PM...

...ZONES BY 345 PM...

...CHANGES...

WILL KEEP FCST CLOSE TO WHAT WE HAVE OUT NOW.

FOR MONDAY INTO THU...MAINLY DRY WX...CHC OF A SHOWER/SNOW
SHOWER HERE AND THERE.

...DISC...

WARM AIR JUST ENTERING OUR WESTERN AND SOUTHERN MOST PART OF OUR
CWA.  BAND OF SHOWERS OVER EASTERN OHIO...LIKELY TO HOLD TOGETHER
...AS W PA IN WARM SECTOR.  TROPICAL AIR TRYING TO MOVE INTO
EXTREME S PORTION OF LOWER SUSQ VLY.  FEED OF MOISTURE NOW IN
PLACE FROM THE SE ATLANTIC.  EXPECT THAT HEAVIEST RAIN WILL
BE OVER EXTREME NW AREA...GIVEN BETTER DYNAMICS...AND ACROSS
SE PA...GIVEN FEED OFF SE ATLANTIC.  MOST OF THE RAIN WILL
BE BETWEEN 00Z AND 12Z.

FOR SEVERE WX...WE ARE NOT OUTLOOK...NOR DO WE GET INTO THE
BETTER DYNAMICS...AS SYSTEM SHEARS OUT.  AN ISOLATED STORM
COULD OCCUR EARLY ON THIS EVENING...BUT SHOULD NOT DO MUCH.

FOR WIND...ISOLATED GUSTS LIKELY EARLY THIS EVENING ACROSS
W SECTION...WILL KEEP WINDS UP IN ZONES.  SHOULD BE UNDER
ADVISORY LEVELS.

FOR RAIN...WILL KEEP FLOOD WATCH UP...QPS LIKELY TO RANGE FROM
1.0 TO 1.5.  LEVELS WILL COME CLOSE...GIVEN RAIN AND SNOW MELT.

GUSTY WINDS AND HIGH DEWPOINTS WILL EAT AWAY AT A LOT OF SNOW.

WILL HANDLE FOG AS PATCHY...LOOKS LIKE IT IS ON ITS WAY OUT.

.CTP...FLASH FLOOD WATCH ENTIRE FA FOR TONIGHT AND SUNDAY.

MARTIN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 23, 5:25 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningCTPSomerset6 hr
Jan 23, 5:35 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPBedford50 min
Jan 23, 6:34 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPHuntingdon46 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1999Every flash flood warning in 1999

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.