Flash Flood in Pennsylvania, January 24, 1999

Name: Flash Flood in Pennsylvania, January 24, 1999
Start: 1999-01-24T09:30
End: 1999-01-24T14:00
Location: Pennsylvania

January 24, 1999 · 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $5,000
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 national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Columbia

When: January 24, 9:30 AM EST to 2:00 PM EST
Where: Columbia County, Countywide
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 41.049, -76.405 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy rains fell across the central mountains of Pennsylvania with most areas receiving in excess of 1 inch from late afternoon on the 23rd until early morning of Sunday the 24th. The snow pack which included a hard layer of ice held up to 2 inches of water in some spots. Mild temperatures helped to melt some of the snow and ice pack, but probably because of the high ice content, flooding was not as severe as would have been possible if the pack was entirely snow. Still, small streams overflowed their banks, ice jams caused problems and some basements and roads were flooded.

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

Every storm in Pennsylvania in 1999 Every state in 1999 This day in weather history Warnings in Pennsylvania, January 1999

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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5679042.