Pennsylvania, 2001

Flash Flood in Pennsylvania, August 26, 2001

August 26, 2001 · NWS PBZ · 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
$10,000
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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Pittsburgh, PA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 26, 2:45 PM EST, 5 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 26, 2:45 PM EST, 5 hours 30 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
345 PM EDT SUN AUG 26 2001

COLD FRONT OVER THE GREAT LAKES WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE SOUTHEASTWARD
AT 20 KNOTS TONIGHT...AND PASS THROUGH THE HEAD OF THE OHIO REGION
DURING THE PREDAWN HOURS OF MONDAY. IN CONCURRENCE WITH SPC THINKING
AND CURRENT RADAR ACTIVITY...KEPT MENTION OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH
HEAVY RAIN AND GUSTY WIND FOR THIS EVENING DUE TO HIGH PRECIPITABLE
WATER VALUES...COMBINED WITH MODERATE PREFRONTAL LIFT AND
INSTABILITY. SEE SPC MESO DISCUSSION FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

FOR MONDAY...MENTIONED PATCHY FOG EARLY...COULD BE SOME DRIZZLE OR
LINGERING SHOWERS IN THE NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAIN AREA. THEN
EXPECT BROKEN CUMULUS...SO MENTIONED PARTLY SUNNY.

FOR TUESDAY...LATEST ETA AND AVN BOTH SHOW NEXT SYSTEM MOVING
EASTWARD THROUGH THE GREAT LAKES. ASSOCIATED LIFT AND HIGHER
MEAN RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES SEEM TO BE EXTENDING FURTHER SOUTH
WITH EACH RUN. SO INCLUDED A CHANCE OF SHOWERS ALL SECTIONS.

MRF AND OLD ECM SHOW ZONAL FLOW CONTINUING INTO THE WEEKEND...WITH
THE NEXT FRONTAL PASSAGE FRIDAY NIGHT. SO WENT WITH CHANCE OF
THUNDERSTORMS LATE FRIDAY AND CHANCE OF SHOWERS EARLY SATURDAY.
GUIDANCE TEMPERATURES LOWERED SLIGHTLY. ...GIORDANO

.PBZ...
MD...NONE.
OH...NONE.
PA...NONE.
WV...NONE.

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:14 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Clarion

When
August 26, 8:15 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where
Clarion County, Lucinda
Property damage
$10,000
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
41.192, -79.421 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Several slow-moving thunderstorms passing over northern Clarion County produced rainfall totals of well over 2 inches. One rain gage in the Lucinda area measured 4.5 inches; another in the Fryburg area measured 4.27 inches. Several reports of basement flooding were received from this sparsely populated area.

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 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, August 2001

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: 5265545.