Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Flash Flood Warnings in 2004

Flash Flood Warning 5, NWS State College, PA

May 18, 2004Clearfield County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this flash flood warning at May 18, 2004, 7:31 PM EDT for Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 119 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 18, 2004, 7:31 PM EDT (23:31 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 2004, 9:30 PM EDT
In force: 119 min
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Clearfield County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:30 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, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 158 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: 312 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -25 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 635 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 254 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 254 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS51 KCTP 182334
FFWCTP
PAC033-190130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
731 PM EDT TUE MAY 18 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 930 PM EDT.

* AT 720 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL. THESE SLOW MOVING 
THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRODUCING TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IN THE WARNED AREA. 
RUNOFF FROM THIS EXCESSIVE RAINFALL WILL LIKELY CAUSE FLASH FLOODING 
IN OR NEAR PARKER DAM STATE PARK. OTHER AREAS SUSCEPTIBLE TO FLASH 
FLOODING INCLUDE DUBOIS AND TREASURE LAKE EASTWARD TO LECONTES 
MILLS. 

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.

PLEASE REPORT HAIL...STRONG WINDS OR WIND DAMAGE TO THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE BY CALLING TOLL FREE...1-877-633-6772.

LAT...LON 4122 7812 4105 7812 4106 7852 4107 7880
          4114 7880 4120 7877 4125 7871

$$

DEVOIR

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KCTP 190035
FFSCTP
PAC033-190130-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
827 PM EDT TUE MAY 18 2004


...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR CLEARFIELD COUNTY UNTIL 930 
PM EDT...

AT 827 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO 
SHOW AN AREA OF HEAVY RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS AFFECTING CLEARFIELD 
COUNTY. THE HEAVY RAIN OF OVER AN INCH AN ONE HALF OVER THE PAST FEW 
HOURS HAS RESULTED IN WIDESPREAD FLASH FLOODING OF LOW LYING 
AREAS...AND THE CLOSURE OF NUMEROUS ROADS IN THE VICINITY OF DUBOIS.

ADDITONAL RAINFALL OF UP TO AN INCH IS POSSIBLE THROUGH MIDNIGHT.

SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS...ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE NORTHERN HALF OF 
CLEARFIELD COUNTY WILL CONTINUE RAPIDLY FLOOD...POSSIBLY WASHING OUT 
ROADS AND FLOODING NEARBY LOW AREAS.

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.

LAT...LON 4120 7805 4127 7852 4121 7877 4096 7878
          4097 7815

$$

LAMBERT/DEVOIR

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 11:54 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Clearfield	66 min
May 18, 2:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Warren	59 min
May 18, 4:52 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Somerset	3 hr
May 18, 5:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Perry	28 min
May 18, 5:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Franklin	64 min
May 18, 6:23 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Cumberland	67 min
May 18, 6:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Franklin	37 min
May 18, 7:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Adams, York	56 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Pennsylvania, 2004 Every flash flood warning in 2004

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.