Pennsylvania, 1998

Flash Flood in Pennsylvania, January 8, 1998

January 8, 1998 · NWS CTP · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 79 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:57 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Union

When
January 8, 4:00 PM EST to 9:00 PM EST
Where
Union County, Countywide
Coordinates
40.963, -77.062 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy rains produced flooding across a large area of central Pennsylvania over a 3-day period from January 7th through the 10th. Large amounts of moisture moved northeast across the Ohio Valley into the area. Especially hard hit was the Russell area of eastern Warren County, where homes were evacuated as the Conewango River crested at 10.8 feet on the 10th. Route 220, the major north-south highway across eastern Lycoming and Sullivan counties, was closed by flooding during the evening of the 8th. The Susquehanna River also exceeded flood stage at Bloomsburg and Lewisburg on the 9th and Danville and Harrisburg on the 10th.

What these are

Flash Flood
Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Pennsylvania in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, January 1998

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5628411.