1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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 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 State College, PA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 11, 9:00 AM EST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA ISSUED BY NWS PITTSBURGH PA 1000 AM EDT MON AUG 11 2003 PREVIOUS FORECAST THINKING STILL GOOD. REMOVED MORNING WORDING. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVERSPREADING THE CWA FROM THE SOUTH. PW 1.5+ AND WITH LOTS LOW LEVEL MOISTURE...RAIN WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING HIGH. WITH CLOUD COVER...LOWERED THE TEMPERATURES A FEW DEGREES IN THE AOO/CTP ZONE. NWS PBZ .CTP... PA...FLOOD WATCH TODAY THROUGH LATE TONIGHT FOR ALL BUT ELK...WARREN AND MCKEAN COUNTIES. ********************************** PREVIOUS DISCUSSION 326 AM EDT MON AUG 11 2003 SERIOUS FLOODING POTENTIAL EXISTS TODAY WITH A REPEAT OF WIDESPREAD HEAVY RAIN EXPECTED OVER MUCH OF CENTRAL PA. SIMILAR TO SATURDAY AFTN/EVE...00 UTC ETA DEPICTS 85H LOW CIRCULATION SLOWLY LIFTING NORTHWARD ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL PA THIS AFTERNOON ABOVE QUASI-STATIONARY INVERTED SFC TROF. WITH PWS IN EXCESS OF 1.5 EAST OF THE ALLEGHENY FRONT...A LARGE AREA OF MODERATE TO HEAVY RAINFALL SHOULD CONTINUE TO BLOSSOM TODAY OVER THE CENTRAL MOUNTAINS. GIVEN RECENT HEAVY RAINS AND VERY LOW FFG VALUES...THINK POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING/FLASH FLOODING IS PARTICULARLY HIGH TODAY INTO TONIGHT. WL GO WITH FLOOD WATCH FOR ALL BUT EXTREME NORTHWEST COUNTIES OF MY CWA FOR TODAY THROUGH LATE TONIGHT...AS PER COORD WITH BUF/PBZ AS WELL AS BGM...PHI AND LWX. 85H LOW CIRCULATION WEAKENS SOME BY THIS EVENING...BUT 85H TROFFING AS WELL AS INVERTED SFC TROF REMAIN IN PLACE THROUGH EARLY WEDNESDAY FOR A CONTINUATION OF SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...BUT WITH LESS COVERAGE THAN TODAYS ACTIVITY. LATE WEEK PATTERN MODIFICATION STILL IN THE CARDS...BUT TAKING A DIFFERENT FORM THAN EARLIER INDICATED. MASSIVE OFFSHORE 5H RIDGE NOW PROGGED TO RETROGRADE TOWARD THE MID ATLANTIC COAST...WHILE CLOSED 5H LOW CURRENTLY OVR KENTUCKY ALSO RETROGRADES REMARKABLY SOUTHWESTWARD INTO SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. DONT BELIEVE IVE *EVER* SEEN THE RETROGRESSION OF AN UPPER TROF OF THIS MAGNITUDE ACROSS THE GULF COAST STATES AT THIS TIME OF YEAR...BUT IT APPEARS THATS EXACTLY WHAT WILL HAPPEN THIS WEEK AS OFFSHORE ATLANTIC 5H RIDGE JOINS FORCES WITH MASSIVE WESTERN 5H RIDGE AND REFORMS A 598 DM 5H HIGH CENTER OVR THE CENTRAL PLAINS BY THU-FRI. RESULTING UPPER FLOW OVER NORTHEAST U.S. AND PA WILL BACK TO THE NORTHWEST...EFFECTIVELY SHUTTING OFF THE RICH TROPICAL FLOW OF MOISTURE THATS PLAGUED THE EAST FOR WEEKS. THUS WILL STILL HOLD OUT HOPE FOR WHAT FINALLY LOOKS TO BE A MUCH NICER STRETCH OF WEATHER LATE THIS WEEK AND THIS WEEKEND. ISC GRIDS AND WORK ZONES SENT...ALONG WITH FFA FOR ALL BUT EXTREME NORTHWEST PORTION OF CENTRAL PA.
PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>037-041-042-045-046-049>053- 056>059-063>066-111000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 340 AM EDT MON AUG 11 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY A FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT TODAY THROUGH LATE TONIGHT FOR ALL OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA EXCEPT FOR WARREN...ELK AND MCKEAN COUNTIES. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WILL BECOME MORE NUMEROUS ACROSS CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA THIS MORNING AND AFTERNOON... AND CONTINUE ON THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS. GIVEN RECENT HEAVY RAINS AND SATURATED SOILS...SIGNIFICANT FLOODING OF URBAN AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS IS POSSIBLE DUE TO THE EXPECTED HEAVY RAINFALL. THE ADDITIONAL RAINFALL MAY ALSO PUSH MANY SMALLER CREEKS AND STREAMS OUT OF THEIR BANKS LATER TODAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... LOCAL HEAVY RAIN FROM SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL STILL BE POSSIBLE ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. OTHERWISE NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND OTHER LOCAL MEDIA FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES.
The State College radar (KCCX), 144 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:31 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy rainfall, estimated by radar over 3 inches in 3 hours, caused rapid flooding along Swatara Creek in the town of Inwood, about 1 mile northwest of Lickdale. Portions of the riverbank were collapsed along the side of Route 71 near the Route 81 underpass.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, August 2003
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: 5368947.