Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 29, NWS State College, PA

August 13, 2003Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 13, 2003, 4:24 PM EDT for Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 2 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 13, 2003, 4:24 PM EDT (20:24 UTC)
Expired: Aug 13, 2003, 6:30 PM EDT
In force: 2 hr
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Whole counties

County Schuylkill County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 152 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:23 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

Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD (KAPG), launched 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 138 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: 1101 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -46 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 827 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 23 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 KCTP 132030
FFWCTP
PAC107-132230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
424 PM EDT WED AUG 13 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  SCHUYLKILL COUNTY IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 630 PM EDT.

* AT 417 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A   
STATIONARY THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL OVER SOUTH CENTRAL 
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.  THE HEAVIEST RAIN WAS FALLING BETWEEN PORT 
CARBON AND NEW PHILADELPHIA...AND BETWEEN ORWIGSBURG AND NEW 
RINGGOLD.  

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR PRECIPITION ESTIMATES OF  
BETWEEN TWO TO THREE INCHES OF RAIN ARE INDICATED ACROSS MUCH OF THE 
AREA. RUNOFF FROM ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING 
EAST OF POTTSVILLE AND SOUTH OF MIDDLEPORT OVER THE NEXT 2 HOURS.

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 4080 7598 4067 7584 4059 7617 4075 7624

DEVOIR

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KCTP 132123
FFSCTP
PAC107-132245-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
520 PM EDT WED AUG 13 2003


...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR SCHUYLKILL COUNTY...

AT 515 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 
A LARGE THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING TORRENTIAL RAIN NEAR POTTSVILLE.

RADAR ESTIMATES THAT THE STORM MAY HAVE PRODUCED UPWARDS OF
5 TO 6 INCHES OF RAIN IN SPOTS SINCE MID AFTERNOON EAST OF 
POTTSVILLE.

THE STORM IS WILL SLOWLY DRIFT TO THE WEST AND SOUTH DURING
THE NEXT HOUR...AND WILL BE NEAR PINE GROVE BY 630 PM. 

WHILE THE STORM WILL CONTINUE TO SLOWLY WEAKEN...FLASH FLOODING
WILL CONTINUE. THIS IS A DANGEROUS SITUATION.

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 4066 7638 4059 7621 4069 7617 4077 7622

MARTIN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 12, 10:03 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	McKean	117 min
Aug 13, 5:36 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Dauphin	114 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 2003 Every flash flood warning in 2003

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.