Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 2001

Flash Flood Warning 10, NWS Cleveland, OH

August 31, 2001Erie County, Pennsylvania

NWS Cleveland, OH issued this flash flood warning at Aug 31, 2001, 8:13 AM EDT for Erie County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 2 hr. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
Aug 31, 2001, 8:13 AM EDT (12:13 UTC)
Expired
Aug 31, 2001, 10:15 AM EDT
In force
2 hr
Issued by
NWS Cleveland, OH
Area
Whole counties

County Erie County, PA

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 145 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 12:15 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.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 31, 8:30 AM EDTFlash FloodErie, PAThunderstorms dumped one to two inches of rain in less than 90 minutes. Widespread street and lowland flooding occurred. Underpasses in the city were flooded with as much as four feet of water. Many vehicles became stranded in the flood waters and several

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 146 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 2001-08-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1001 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, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 2001-08-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 59 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
1001 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-16 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
763 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
59 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
87 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS51 KCLE 311216
FFWCLE
PAC049-311415-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
813 AM EDT FRI AUG 31 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  ERIE COUNTY IN PENNSYLVANIA...

* UNTIL 1015 AM EDT

* AT 810 AM EDT THE EMERGENCY MAMAGEMENT AGENCY REPORTED FLOODING IN 
THE CITY OF ERIE. THE STORM THAT CAUSED THE FLOODING WAS MOVING EAST 
AT 35 MPH AND WILL POSSIBLY RESULT IN SOME ADDITIONAL FLOODING EAST 
OF THE CITY AS WELL.   THE STORM WILL MOVE EAST OUT OF THE COUNTY BY 
840AM.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED INCLUDE...
  ERIE 
  NORTH EAST

$$

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 2001Every flash flood warning in 2001

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.