Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 12, NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly

July 22, 2003Berks County, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania

NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly issued this flash flood warning at Jul 22, 2003, 6:30 PM EDT for Berks County, Lehigh 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: Jul 22, 2003, 6:30 PM EDT (22:30 UTC)
Expired: Jul 22, 2003, 10:30 PM EDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly
Area: Whole counties

Counties Berks County, PA, Lehigh County, PA

The radar

The Philadelphia radar (KDIX), 131 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:32 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, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 120 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: 1049 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -60 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 961 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 69 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 158 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 3.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS51 KPHI 222232
FFWPHI
PAC011-077-230230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ
630 PM EDT TUE JUL 22 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOUNT HOLLY NJ HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  BERKS COUNTY IN EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA
  LEHIGH COUNTY IN EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 1030 PM EDT.

* AT 625 PM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED THAT SHOWERS AND 
THUNDERSTORMS WERE QUICKLY BUILDING INTO BERKS COUNTY AND LEHIGH 
COUNTY FROM THE SOUTHWEST.  HEAVY RAIN WILL FALL OVER THE SAME 
LOCATIONS THAT WERE AFFECTED ON MONDAY EVENING.  RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 
AT LEAST ONE TO TWO INCHES WILL BE COMMON AGAIN THIS EVENING.

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM THIS STORM WILL CAUSE FLASH FLOODING OF SMALL 
CREEKS AND STREAMS...HIGHWAYS AND UNDERPASSES. ADDITIONALLY...COUNTRY
ROADS AND FARMLANDS ALONG THE BANKS OF CREEKS AND STREAMS AND OTHER 
LOW LYING AREAS ARE SUBJECT TO FLASH FLOODING.

FOR THE LATEST STORM INFORMATION...PLEASE TUNE TO NOAA WEATHER
RADIO...YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR TELEVISION STATION...OR YOUR CABLE
TELEVISION OUTLET.

$$

LAT...LON 4047 7632 4018 7587 4055 7540 4075 7563

IOVINO

The office that day

Everything else NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 21, 8:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Bucks	84 min
Jul 21, 8:54 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Chester, Montgomery	81 min
Jul 22, 3:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Bucks	49 min
Jul 22, 7:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PHI	Berks	36 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.