Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS State College, PA

May 12, 2002Clearfield County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at May 12, 2002, 2:01 PM EDT for Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 6 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 12, 2002, 2:01 PM EDT (18:01 UTC)
Expired: May 12, 2002, 8:00 PM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Whole counties

County Clearfield County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 40 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:04 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, 6.0 hours before the alert went out and 152 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: 637 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -53 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 680 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 148 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 125 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS51 KCTP 121801
FFWCTP
PAC033-130000-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
200 PM EDT SUN MAY 12 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 800 PM EDT.

* AT 159 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL.

SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRODUCING TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IN THE
WARNED AREA. RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH 
FLOODING IN THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE COUNTY. DOPPLER RADAR HAS 
ESTIMATED THAT 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN HAS ALREADY FALLEN AND MORE IS 
ON THE WAY.

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 4122 7824 4104 7815 4098 7879 4122 7874

ONDREJIK/JUNG/LACORTE/DIRIENZO/HEAD

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KCTP 122159
FFSCTP
PAC033-122215-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
559 PM EDT SUN MAY 12 2002


...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FOR CLEARFIELD COUNTY
HAS BEEN CANCELLED...

THE HEAVY RAIN HAS ENDED OVER THE WARNED AREA. STREAMS AND CREEKS IN 
THE WARNED AREA HAVE STARTED TO RECEDE...ENDING THE FLASH 
FLOOD THREAT. EVEN THOUGH STREAMS AND CREEKS ARE RECEDING...SOME 
ROADWAYS STILL MAY BE COVERED WITH WATER. MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO 
AVOID DRIVING THROUGH FLOODED ROADWAYS.

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 4117 7831 4101 7822 4099 7811 4124 7809

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 12, 1:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Cambria	47 min
May 12, 3:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Cambria, Somerset	41 min
May 12, 3:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Bedford, Blair	49 min
May 12, 4:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Huntingdon	41 min
May 12, 4:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Cumberland, Franklin, Perry	39 min
May 12, 5:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Franklin	60 min
May 12, 5:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Lancaster	56 min
May 12, 5:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	York	64 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.