Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 1, NWS State College, PA

April 18, 2002Bedford County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Apr 18, 2002, 8:58 PM EDT for Bedford County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 107 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 18, 2002, 8:58 PM EDT (00:58 UTC)
Expired: Apr 18, 2002, 10:45 PM EDT
In force: 107 min
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Whole counties

County Bedford County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:58 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 00:00Z, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 144 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: 427 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2005 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 1 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 
WGUS51 KCTP 190058
FFWCTP
PAC009-190245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
850 PM EDT THU APR 18 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 1045 PM EDT.

* AT 850 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL LOCATED FROM JUST 
WEST OF WELLS TANNERY...SOUTHWEST TO EVERETT AND BEDFORD.

THESE SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRODUCING RAINFALL RATES OF OVER 
ONE INCH PER HOUR IN THE WARNED AREA. RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE 
RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING MAINLY ACROSS EAST CENTRAL 
BEDFORD COUNTY IN THE TOWNS OF EVERETT AND BREEZEWOOD.

THIS IS THE SAME AREA THAT RECEIVED HEAVY RAIN OF 1 TO 3 INCHES   
LATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON...WHICH CAUSED FLOODING OF AREAS ROADS...AND 
STREETS IN TOWN.  

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.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS.

A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS
IMMINENT. NEVER ATTEMPT TO CROSS HIGH WATER IN A VEHICLE OR ON FOOT

$$

LAT...LON 3991 7850 3998 7857 4010 7842 4012 7818
          4005 7821 3998 7825 3995 7840

LAMBERT

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 18, 9:09 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Bedford	96 min
Apr 19, 12:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Clearfield	64 min
Apr 19, 2:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Northumberland, Snyder	53 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 2002 Every flash flood warning in 2002

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.