Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 16, NWS State College, PA

May 30, 2002Somerset County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at May 30, 2002, 4:08 PM EDT for Somerset 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
May 30, 2002, 4:08 PM EDT (20:08 UTC)
Expired
May 30, 2002, 7:15 PM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Somerset County, PA

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 119 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:10 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 12:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 103 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2002-05-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 169 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2002-05-30The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -9 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
169 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-70 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1160 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-9 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 302010
FFWCTP
PAC111-302315-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
408 PM EDT THU MAY 30 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 715 PM EDT.

* AT 404 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL.

SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRODUCING TORRENTIAL RAINFALL. RUNOFF 
FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING IN AND AROUND 
THE TOWN OF FRIEDENS.

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.

$$

LAT...LON 3978 7943 3977 7880 4020 7875 4027 7910

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 30, 2:07 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPClinton3 hr
May 30, 3:32 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPLycoming3 hr
May 30, 3:34 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPCentre3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 2002Every 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.