Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 2002

Flash Flood Warning 21, NWS Pittsburgh, PA

May 13, 2002Mercer County, Pennsylvania

NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this flash flood warning at May 13, 2002, 1:07 AM EDT for Mercer County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 4 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 13, 2002, 1:07 AM EDT (05:07 UTC)
Expired
May 13, 2002, 5:00 AM EDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS Pittsburgh, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Mercer County, PA

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:09 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, 5.1 hours before the alert went out and 100 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 00:00Z on 2002-05-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 42 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 00:00Z on 2002-05-13The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 131 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
42 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
627 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
131 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
265 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS51 KPBZ 130507
FFWPBZ
PAC085-130900-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
104 AM EDT MON MAY 13 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 500 AM EDT

* AT 104 AM EDT...A TRAINED WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTED FLOODING 
  IN STONEBORO ALONG ROUTE 45 WITH WATER REPORTED ON THE
  ROADWAY. SOME FLOODING ALSO REPORTED ON SAW MILL RUN. 

<<CALL TO ACTION>>BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER 
TO RECOGNIZE THE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. IF FLASH 
FLOODING IS OBSERVED ACT QUICKLY. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND TO ESCAPE 
FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER 
BEGINS RISING.

<<CALL TO ACTION>>DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE
WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW
YOUR CAR TO CROSS SAFELY. VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 13, 3:34 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningPBZJefferson4 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.