Flood in Pennsylvania, January 6, 2005

Name: Flood in Pennsylvania, January 6, 2005
Start: 2005-01-06T10:15
End: 2005-01-06T16:00
Location: Pennsylvania

January 6, 2005 · NWS PBZ · 1 event in 1 county or zone

By 1015 AM on 6th, roads and basements were flooded from Fayette City to Belle Vernon.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $20,000
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 happened

The episode as NWS PBZ wrote it up.

By 1015 AM on 6th, roads and basements were flooded from Fayette City to Belle Vernon.

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 Jan 6, 2:10 AM EST, 8 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 6, 2:10 AM EST, 8 hours 5 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
210 AM EST THU JAN 6 2005

.SHORT TERM (THROUGH THURSDAY)...
FOR TODAY WILL BE EXTENDING THE WSW UNTIL 9AM AS TEMPS ARE SLOW TO
CLIMB. ALSO WILL BE REISSUING ALL FLW UNTIL 1PM AS RAIN WILL
CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE MORNING HOURS AND WILL BRING ADDITIONAL
QPF. GFS SEEMS TO HAVE A PRETTY GOOD HANDLE ON CURRENT CONDITIONS
...USED GFS SOLUTION FOR TIMING TODAY BRINGING FRONT AND COLDER
AIR EAST A BIT FASTER THAN ETA.

&&

.LONG TERM (THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY)...
MODELS STILL TRYING TO GET A HANDLE ON NEXT SYSTEM FOR WEEKEND.
GFS MOST AGGRESSIVE PUSHING PRECIP NORTH AND HOLDING IN COLDER AIR
IN MY NORTHERN CWA AS WELL. NEXT FRONT MOVES IN ON TUESDAY WITH
ANOTHER WAVE MOVING UP ALONG IT.

&&

.AVIATION...
IFR TO MVFR CONDTIONS EXPECTED THROUGHOUT THE DAY. CEILINGS WILL
RISE A BIT JUST AHEAD OF FRONT. SFC WINDS WILL INCREASE AHEAD OF
FRONT AS WELL.

&&

.PREVIOUS DISCUSSION... (ISSUED 1010 PM EST WED JAN 5 2005)

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...
SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY)...
FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT.  WINTER STORM WARNING FOR FREEZING
IN SAME NORTHERN AREAS.  AREA OF RAIN MOVES EAST OVERNIGHT AND
TAPERS OFF DURING TOMORROW MORNING.  WARMER AIR SHOULD MOVE IN TO THE
WATCH AREAS BY AFTER MIDNIGHT ENDING THE FREEZING PRECIP.

LONG TERM (FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY)...
ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES CONTINUE.  SYSTEM FROM SOUTH OVER WEEKEND
IS PROJECTED TO COME IN FASTER NOW WITH CHANCE OF PRECIP SATURDAY
AND SAT NIGHT.  THEN CHC SMALL CHANCES OF RAIN SHOWERS THRU DAY 7.

AVIATION...
IFR CONDITIONS WITH CIGS BELOW 1000 AND VSBY BELOW 3.

&&

.PBZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MD...FLOOD WATCH FOR MDZ001 FROM 1 AM THURSDAY UNTIL 4 PM THURSDAY.
OH...NONE.
PA...FLOOD WATCH FOR PAZ007-PAZ008-PAZ009-PAZ013-PAZ015-PAZ016-
     PAZ032 FROM 1 AM THURSDAY UNTIL 4 PM THURSDAY.
  ...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR PAZ007-PAZ008-PAZ009-PAZ015-PAZ016
     FROM 1 AM THURSDAY UNTIL 9 AM THURSDAY.
WV...FLOOD WATCH FOR WVZ022-WVZ023 FROM 1 AM THURSDAY UNTIL 4 PM
     THURSDAY.

&&

Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 6, 4:37 AM EST, 5 hours 38 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
437 AM EST THU JAN 6 2005

MDZ001-OHZ039>041-048>050-057>059-068-069-PAZ007>009-013>016-020>023-
029>032-WVZ001>004-012-021>023-041-070935-
ALLEGHENY PA-ARMSTRONG PA-BEAVER PA-BELMONT OH-BROOKE WV-BUTLER PA-
CARROLL OH-CLARION PA-COLUMBIANA OH-COSHOCTON OH-FAYETTE PA-
FOREST PA-GARRETT MD-GREENE PA-GUERNSEY OH-HANCOCK WV-HARRISON OH-
INDIANA PA-JEFFERSON PA-JEFFERSON OH-LAWRENCE PA-MARION WV-
MARSHALL WV-MERCER PA-MONONGALIA WV-MONROE OH-MUSKINGUM OH-NOBLE OH-
OHIO WV-PRESTON WV-TUCKER WV-TUSCARAWAS OH-VENANGO PA-WASHINGTON PA-
WESTMORELAND PA-WETZEL WV-
437 AM EST THU JAN 6 2005

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
EAST CENTRAL OHIO...NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA AND
GARRETT COUNTY MARYLAND.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

RAIN WILL CONTINUE TO FALL ACROSS THE AREA TODAY. THIS WILL ONLY
WORSEN THE FLOODING. FREEZING RAIN IS POSSIBLE UNTIL MID MORNING
ACROSS FAR NORTHERN SECTIONS OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. WARMER
TEMPERATURES WILL EVENTUALLY MAKE IT TO THE NORTH TURNING THE
FREEZING RAIN BACK TO ALL RAIN. RAINFALL ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA
SHOULD TAPER OFF THIS AFTERNOON.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED TODAY.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jan 6, 9:36 AM EST, 39 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jan 6, 9:37 AM EST, 38 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jan 6, 9:38 AM EST, 37 minutes before

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Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Fayette

When: January 6, 10:15 AM EST to 4:00 PM EST
Where: Fayette forecast zone
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Pennsylvania, January 2005

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: 5433113.