Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 7, NWS State College, PA

August 5, 2002Bedford County, Somerset County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 5, 2002, 7:20 PM EDT for Bedford County, 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: Aug 5, 2002, 7:20 PM EDT (23:20 UTC)
Expired: Aug 5, 2002, 10:15 PM EDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Bedford County, PA, Somerset County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 122 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:19 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, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 123 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 052320
FFWCTP
PAC009-111-060215-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 1015 PM EDT.

* AT 715 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAINFALL OVER 
  SOMERSET COUNTY...MOVING EAST.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRODUCING TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IN THE WARNED 
AREA. EARLIER HEAVY RAINFALL WILL KEEP ANY OF THIS RAIN FROM SOAKING 
INTO THE GROUND. RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE 
FLASH FLOODING IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SOMERSET AND BEDFORD COUNTIES.

COMMUNITIES ALONG THE WILLS CREEK SUCH AS HYNDMAN THAT EXPERIENCED 
FLOODING EARLIER IN THE DAY WILL SEE THE CREEKS AND STREAMS OVERFLOW 
AGAIN.  THE RAINS SHOULD TAPER OFF AFTER 8 PM IN SOMERSET AND 9 PM 
IN BEDFORD. THE FLOOD WATERS SHOULD RECEDE AFTER 10 PM. 

REMEMBER THAT IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE DANGERS OF FLOODING AT 
NIGHT.  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.

IF WATER BEGINS TO RISE IN YOUR VICINITY...DO NOT STAY IN AREAS 
SUBJECT TO FLOODING. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY
$$

LAT...LON 4017 7815 3973 7838 3972 7941 4025 7910

DANGELO

2 follow-up statements

000 
WGUS71 KCTP 060023
FFSCTP
PAC009-111-060215-

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


...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR SOMERSET AND BEDFORD COUNTIES 
UNTIL 1015 PM...

AT 815 PM EDT...A CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING VERY HEAVY 
RAINFALL OVER SOUTHERN BEDFORD COUNTY CONTINUED TO MOVE TO THE EAST. 

THE RAIN HAS BEGUN TO TAPER OFF IN SOMERSET COUNTY...AND SHOULD BE 
OVER BY 845 PM. BY 930 PM...THE RAIN SHOULD BE OVER IN BEDFORD 
COUNTY. 

DOPPLER RADAR ESTIMATES ARE THAT UP TO TWO INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN 
SINCE 7 PM IN CENTRAL SOMERSET AND BEDFORD COUTNIES. THIS RAIN... 
COMBINED WITH THE RAINFALL EARLIER IN THE AFTERNOON...WILL RESULT IN 
RAPID RUNOFF. THE RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL CAUSE 
FLASH FLOODING IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN SOMERSET AND BEDFORD 
COUNTIES. PLACES ALONG THE WILLS CREEK AND IN THE CITY OF SOMERSET 
ARE LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE THE WORST OF THE FLOODING.

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

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 4022 7911 3973 7938 3972 7838 4011 7815

DANGELO

000 
WGUS71 KCTP 060215
FFSCTP
PAC009-111-060230-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1015 PM EDT MON AUG 5 2002


...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FOR SOMERSET AND
BEDFORD COUNTIES HAS EXPIRED...

THE HEAVY RAIN HAS ENDED OVER THE WARNED AREA. STREAMS AND CREEKS IN
THE WARNED AREA HAVE RECEDED OR WERE BEGINNING 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.

$$

LAT...LON 4027 7908 3973 7942 3971 7834 4021 7817

DANGELO

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 5, 2:01 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Bedford	89 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.