Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 2000

Flash Flood Warning 26, NWS State College, PA

July 31, 2000McKean County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Jul 31, 2000, 3:44 PM EDT for McKean 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
Jul 31, 2000, 3:44 PM EDT (19:44 UTC)
Expired
Jul 31, 2000, 6:45 PM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County McKean County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:47 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

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 125 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, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 2000-07-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 922 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 2000-07-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 60 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
922 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-54 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
840 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
60 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
80 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS51 KCTP 311950
FFWCTP
PAC083-312245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
344 PM EDT MON JUL 31 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  MCKEAN COUNTY.

* UNTIL 645 PM EDT.

* AT 337 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
LINE OF SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL OVER 
NORTHWEST MCKEAN COUNTY. SEVERAL OTHER SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS 
WERE ALSO DEVELOPING OVER OTHER PORTIONS OF THE COUNTY. 

SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRODUCING TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IN THE 
WARNED AREA. RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH 
FLOODING IN BRADFORD...MARSHBURG AND WESTLINE IN THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY. VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED. MOVE TO
HIGHER GROUND.

$$
GARTNER

LAT-...LON 4179 7895 4167 7878 4249 7739 4281 7782

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 Jul 31, 1:50 PM EDT, 1 hour 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 31, 1:50 PM EDT, 1 hour 54 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
150 PM EDT MON JUL 31 2000

CU FILLED IN FAST LATE THIS AM AS THE HI MSTR CONTENT OF THE LLVLS
LWRD THE CONVCTV TEMP. RDR LIGHTING UP ATTM W/A LINE OF HEAVY
RAINERS ALREADY ALONG THE SPINE OF THE ALLEGH FNT. THESE THINGS WILL
JUST PERSIST IN THIS ORIENTATION AS THE VWP SHWS NO DIRECTIONAL
SHEAR AND LTL SPEED SHEAR THRU ALL LYRS.  FFA IS BEING SERIOUSLY
CONSIDERED FOR TONIGHT - WL LIKELY GO FOR ALL OF FA DUE TO CURR
CONDITIONS AND XPCTD EXPANSION OF RAIN THRU THE NIGHT.

MAIN ACTION FOR NEXT FEW DAYS SEEMS TO BE TONIGHT. ALL MDL PROGS NOW
BECMG MORE DEFINED ON A RELATIVE MINIMUM OF FORCING AND QPF DURING
LAST HALF OF TUESDAY TO WED NOON. THIS APPEARS TO BE SOMETHING TO
LATCH ONTO. BUT BEFORE THEN...THE HI MOISTURE AND MAINLY AFTN/EVEN
CONVECTION WL LIKELY CONTINUE IN EARNEST. LOWER POPS IN ORDER FOR
TUE NIGHT AND EVEN DAYTIME ON WED.

XTNDD: THINGS LOOKING SLIGHTLY MORE OPTIMISTIC FOR SAT...BUT DRY
WEEKENDS HV BEEN TOUGH TO COME BY LATELY. WL GO WITH PC...THOUGH AS
THE UPR LOW SHUD BE FILLING AND LIFTING NORTH LATER IN THE WEEK.

WORK ZNS BY 3 PM.

.CTP...FFA FOR ALL OF FA TONIGHT.

DANGELO

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 31, 10:50 AM EDT, 4 hours 54 minutes before
PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>037-041-042-045-046-049>053-
056>059-063>066-312000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1050 AM EDT MON JUL 31 2000

...HEAVY DOWNPOURS POSSIBLE AGAIN THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...

VERY HUMID AIR IS IN PLACE OVER CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA ONCE AGAIN
TODAY. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP DURING THE AFTERNOON.
THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME MORE NUMEROUS LATE THIS
AFTERNOON AND INTO THIS EVENING. THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR LOCALLY
HEAVY DOWNPOURS...SOME OF WHICH MAY BE HEAVY ENOUGH TO CAUSE
FLOODING. PLACES THAT RECEIVED HEAVY RAINS DURING THE LAST FEW DAYS
WILL BE MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO FLOODING.

STAY TUNED TO THE LATEST FORECASTS AND POTENTIAL WATCHES OR WARNINGS
FROM YOUR NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

DANGELO/SEILHAMER

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 30, 8:25 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPColumbia3 hr
Jul 31, 1:50 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPColumbia3 hr
Jul 31, 1:58 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPClearfield4 hr
Jul 31, 2:08 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPSomerset3 hr
Jul 31, 4:40 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPElk3 hr
Jul 31, 6:45 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPMcKean2 hr
Jul 31, 7:40 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPClearfield110 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 2000Every flash flood warning in 2000

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.