Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 1999
Flash Flood Warning 5, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jan 18, 1999, 4:05 PM EST for Lancaster 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
- Jan 18, 1999, 4:05 PM EST (21:05 UTC)
- Expired
- Jan 18, 1999, 7:00 PM EST
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lancaster County, PA
The nearest sounding before it
Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 157 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
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCTP 182106 FFWCTP PAC071-190005- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 405 PM EST MON JAN 18 1999 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS CONTINUED THE * FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR... LANCASTER COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. * UNTIL 700 PM EST. * AT 400 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THAT THE HEAVIEST RAINS WERE MOVING EAST OF LANCASTER COUNTY. HOWEVER...THE COMBINATION OF EARLIER RAINS AND SNOWMELT WILL KEEP THE THREAT OF FLOODING GOING INTO THIS EVENING. * RECENT MELTING CONDITIONS COULD ALSO RESULT IN THE FORMATION OF ICE JAMS ALONG STREAMS AND CREEKS THIS EVENING. WATER COULD BACK UP BEHIND THE JAMS...CAUSING FLOODING. DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD! .END/MSE &
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, 3:30 PM EST, 35 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 18, 3:30 PM EST, 35 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 330 PM EST MON JAN 18 1999 ...WORK ZONES OUT AT 245 AS PHLADMCTP... ...ZONES OUT BY 4 PM AS PHLZFPCTP... CDFRNT WILL MOVE EAST OF THE AREA BY THIS EVENING TAKING THE HEAVY RAIN WITH IT. HOWEVER...WILL KEEP THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH GOING THROUGH THE EVENING IN LOWER SUSQ VALL...WHERE FLOODING IS PRESENTLY OCCURRING. TONIGHT...AS UPPER LOW PASSES TO OUR NORTH...WRAP AROUND MOISTURE WILL ASCEND THE APPALACHIANS RESULTING IN SNOW SHOWERS FROM THE NW MTNS SOUTHWARD THRU THE LAURELS. LATEST RUC SUGGESTS POSSIBLE ADDITIONAL ACCUMS AROUND 1 INCH. TO THE EAST...DRY SLOT CURRENTLY ENTERING W PA...WILL CLEAR THINGS OUT RAPIDLY IN THE SUSQ VALL THIS EVENING. FOR THE RIDGE/VALLEY REGION...WILL USE VARIABLY CLDY OVERNIGHT WITH SCT FLURRIES. TUESDAY...SOUNDINGS SHOW INVERSIONS LOWERING AS COLD POOL LIFTS OUT OF THE AREA. UPSLOPE CLOUDINESS AND FLURRIES OVER THE N AND W MTNS WILL ERODE TO MSUNNY SKIES BY AFTN. ELSEWHERE...SOUNDINGS SUPPORT MSUNNY FOR THE BALANCE OF THE DAY. HOURLY ETA 2-METER TEMPS FRM PSU SUGGEST AFTN HIGHS FM THE M 30S NW MTNS TO THE M 40S LOWER SUSQ. WK DISTURBANCES IN ZONAL FLOW THEN PROGGED TO AFFECT THE AREA LATE TUES NITE AND WEDNESDAY. MODEL CONSENSUS WUD PLACE S PA IN LINE FOR THE CHANCE OF SOME LIGHT SNOW OR RAIN TUES NITE AND WED. .CTP...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH MIDNIGHT FOR THE SUSQ VALLEY. FITZGERALD
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jan 18, 11:06 AM EST, 4 hours 59 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, 3:03 PM EST | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Lebanon, Schuylkill | 4 hr |
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.