Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 6, NWS State College, PA

August 5, 2002Bedford County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 5, 2002, 2:01 PM EDT for Bedford County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 89 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: Aug 5, 2002, 2:01 PM EDT (18:01 UTC)
Expired: Aug 5, 2002, 3:30 PM EDT
In force: 89 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 18:03 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 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: 546 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -81 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1084 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 33 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 20 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 051801
FFWCTP
PAC009-051930-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
157 PM EDT MON AUG 5 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 330 PM EDT.

* AT 143 PM...EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS REPORTED FLOODING OF 
STREETS...LOW LYING AREAS AND STREAMS IN THE VICINITY OF HYNDMAN IN 
SOUTHWESTERN BEDFORD COUNTY.

RAINFALL OF OVER 3 INCHES HAS FALLEN NEAR HYNDMAN SINCE 1 PM.

ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS MOVING SOUTHEAST FROM SOMERSET COUNTY WILL 
CROSS THIS SAME AREA AND PRODUCE ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL OF OVER 
AN INCH BY 3 PM.

RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING IN 
HYNDMAN AND SURROUNDING AREAS THROUGH THE MID AFTERNOON.

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.

SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS WILL RAPIDLY FLOOD...POSSIBLY WASHING OUT
ROADS AND FLOODING NEARBY LOW AREAS.

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

$$

LAMBERT

LAT...LON 4006 7875 4003 7877 3988 7877 3973 7882
          3972 7848 3972 7838 3994 7831 3998 7836
          4002 7849 4005 7860

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KCTP 051951
FFSCTP
PAC009-052015-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
338 PM EDT MON AUG 5 2002


...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FOR BEDFORD COUNTY 
UNTIL 330 PM HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO EXPIRE...

A FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR BEDFORD AND SOMERSET COUNTY 
UNTIL 10 PM. 

THE HEAVY RAIN FROM STRONG THUNDERSTORMS HAS ENDED OVER THE WARNED 
AREA. STREAMS AND CREEKS IN THE WARNED AREA HAVE RECEDED OR WERE 
BEGINNING TO RECEDE...DIMINISHING THE THREAT FOR ADDITIONAL FLASH 
FLOODING. 

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A COLD FRONT NEAR INTERSTATE 80 WILL 
DRIFT SOUTH AND AFFECT THE REGION EARLY THIS EVENING. ADDITIONAL 
RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE THIS BY LATE THIS 
EVENING.   

EVEN THOUGH STREAMS AND CREEKS ARE BEGINNING TO RECEDE...SOME 
ROADWAYS...AND LOW LYING AREAS NEAR HYNDMAN AND PALO ALTO 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.
$$

LAMBERT

LAT...LON 3995 7874 3972 7883 3974 7839 3984 7842

&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 5, 7:20 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Bedford, Somerset	3 hr

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.