Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1999

Flash Flood Warning 4, NWS State College, PA

January 18, 1999Lebanon County, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jan 18, 1999, 3:03 PM EST for Lebanon County, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 4 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 18, 1999, 3:03 PM EST (20:03 UTC)
Expired: Jan 18, 1999, 7:00 PM EST
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Lebanon County, PA, Schuylkill County, PA

The nearest sounding before it

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 198 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 408 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 601 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 602 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 182004
FFWCTP
PAC037-075-081-093-097-107-113-190000-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
303 PM EST MON JAN 18 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  LYCOMING COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA.
  SULLIVAN COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA.
  NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA.
  MONTOUR COUNTY IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA.
  COLUMBIA COUNTY IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA.
  SCHUYLKILL COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA.
  LEBANON COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA.

* UNTIL 700 PM EST.

* AT 3 PM EST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  HEAVY RAINS FROM LAPORTE TO YORK.  THE RAIN WILL TAPER OFF TO
  SNOW FLURRIES THIS EVENING. HOWEVER FLOODING PROBLEMS WILL
  CONTINUE THROUGH EARLY EVENING.

* HEAVY RAINS HAVE FLOODED ROADS ACROSS THE WARNING AREA.  ROUTE 54
  IN NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY IS CLOSED. WIDESPREAD ROAD CLOSINGS ARE
  REPORTED IN COLUMBIA...LEBANON AND SCHUYLKILL COUNTIES.

DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD!

.END/OSTUNO

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 18, 10:30 AM EST, 4 hours 33 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 18, 10:30 AM EST, 4 hours 33 minutes before

CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1030 AM EST MON JAN 18 1999

...WORK ZONES OUT AT 930 AS PHLADMCTP...
...ZONES OUT BY 11 AM AS PHLZFPCTP...

UPPER LO...SEEN IN THE SATELLITE IMAGERY NEAR SOUTHERN LK
MICHIGAN...WILL PROGRESS NE TODAY. DARKENING IN WV IMAGERY OVER OHIO
VALLEY REVEALING THE VORT MAX THAT IS PROGGED TO MOVE INTO PA LATE
TODAY. REGIONAL RADAR LOOP SHOWING AN AREA OF MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN
DEVELOPING ACROSS EASTERN OHIO IN ADVANCE OF THE SFC COLD FRONT.
RECENT LIGHTNING DATA SUGGESTING THAT THUNDER WILL BE CONFINED TO
EXTREME SE PA...WHERE INFLUX OF LL MOISTURE IS THE GREATEST. WILL
KEEP THE FFA GOING THROUGH THE AFTN BECAUSE MINOR FLOODING STILL
SEEMS LIKELY AS PRE-FRONTAL RAIN BAND MOVES THROUGH THIS AFTN. IN
FACT...SOME STREAMS IN LANCASTER CO ALREADY FLOODING IN RESPONSE TO
RAINS OVERNIGHT. ALSO...FLASH FLOOD THREAT EXISTS AS A RESULT OF
POSSIBLE ICE JAMS ALONG SMALLER RIVERS AND STREAMS. HAVE ADDED THE
CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS EXTREME NW FOR LATE THIS AFTN GIVEN LATEST
ETA SOUNDINGS.

.CTP...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON SOUTHERN HALF OF
CENTRAL PA. WILL RE-ISSUE PHLSPSCTP FOR CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK IN THE
LOWER SUSQ VALL.

FITZGERALD

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jan 18, 11:06 AM EST, 3 hours 57 minutes before

PAZ036-056-057-059-063>066-182115-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1106 AM EST MON JAN 18 1999

...SLIGHT RISK OF DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS THIS AFTERNOON...

A COLD FRONT WILL SWEEP EAST ACROSS PENNSYLVANIA THIS AFTERNOON. AS
THE FRONT MOVES THROUGH...IT WILL BRING A PERIOD OF RAIN...ALONG WITH
WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. WINDS JUST ABOVE THE SURFACE ARE VERY
STRONG FROM THE SOUTHWEST. THEREFORE...ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT FORM
WILL BRIEFLY BE CAPABLE OF CAUSING THESE STRONG WINDS TO DECEND TO
THE GROUND. SOME GUSTS WILL LIKELY EXCEED 40 MPH AND COULD BE
POTENTIALLY DAMAGING. ANYONE WITH PROPERTY CONCERNS THAT ARE
VULNERABLE TO HIGH WINDS SHOULD MONITOR THIS SITUATION CLOSELY.

.END/

YOU CAN FIND INFORMATION ON THE FLOOD POTENTIAL WITH THIS SYSTEM
IN THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH (PHLFFACTP) ISSUED THIS MORNING.
ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION FOR CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA CAN BE FOUND
AT THE STATE COLLEGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WORLD WIDE WEB SITE.
THE ADDRESS IS:

HTTP://BOOKEND.MET.PSU.EDU    (ALL LOWER CASE)

FITZGERALD

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 18, 10:33 AM EST	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Lancaster	3 hr
Jan 18, 1:25 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Lancaster	4 hr
Jan 18, 1:33 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Centre, Huntingdon, Mifflin	77 min
Jan 18, 1:33 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Bedford, Franklin, Fulton	77 min
Jan 18, 1:33 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Blair	77 min
Jan 18, 2:19 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Cumberland, Dauphin, Juniata, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder	61 min
Jan 18, 2:19 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Adams, York	61 min
Jan 18, 2:19 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Union	61 min
Jan 18, 2:28 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Lycoming	47 min
Jan 18, 3:03 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Columbia, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Sullivan	4 hr
Jan 18, 4:05 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Lancaster	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1999 Every 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.