Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms developed across the Ohio Valley as low pressure moves east across the region. Isolated heavy rainfall caused flash flooding in Allegheny county Pennsylvania.
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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 episode as NWS PBZ wrote it up.
Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms developed across the Ohio Valley as low pressure moves east across the region. Isolated heavy rainfall caused flash flooding in Allegheny county Pennsylvania.
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 5, 3:21 AM EST, 4 hours 9 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 421 AM EDT TUE AUG 5 2008 .SYNOPSIS... A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE EAST ACROSS THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY REGION BRINGING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TODAY INTO TONIGHT. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/... SHORT WAVE TROUGH AND ASSOCIATED SURFACE LOW WILL PUSH EASTWARD ACROSS THE REGION TODAY AND EARLY TONIGHT. CLOUD COVER FROM AREA OF CONVECTION CURRENTLY OVER SOUTHERN OH SHOULD LIMIT HEATING FOR A WHILE LATER THIS MORNING. BREAKS IN CLOUDS LATER ON TODAY ALONG WITH INCREASED LOW LEVEL MOISTURE SHOULD ALLOW STORMS TO REFIRE. PLAN TO GO WITH LIKELY POPS OVER THE EASTERN PART OF OUR FORECAST AREA AND HIGH CHANCE POPS WEST. WILL KEEP CHANCE POPS GOING INTO TONIGHT AS SYSTEM PULLS SLOWLY EASTWARD. && .SHORT TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... MUCH OF THE FORECAST AREA SHOULD BE DRY WEDNESDAY...BUT WILL CONTINUE WITH SLIGHT CHANCE POPS ACROSS FAR SOUTHERN ZONES AS WEAK WAVE MOVES ALONG FRONTAL BOUNDARY. WEAK RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE EXPECTED TO BRING MAINLY DRY CONDITIONS FOR THURSDAY. && .LONG TERM /THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY/... AN UPPER LOW WILL PROVIDE UNSETTLED WEATHER ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH THE WEEKEND. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE SHOULD SUPPRESS WIDESPREAD CONVECTION. HOWEVER...THE COLD AIR ALOFT SHOULD KEEP THE THE ATMOSHERE UNSTABLE ENOUGH TO ALLOW DEVELOPMENT OF SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. TEMPERATURES WILL BE BELOW NORMAL FOR THE PERIOD. && .AVIATION /08Z TUESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY/... ALOFT, UPPER RIDGE BREAKING DOWN AS UPPER TROF SWINGS SE. THIS WILL SUPPORT A COLD FRONT WHICH WILL PUSH ACROSS FORECAST AREA BY LATE DAY. IN ADVANCE OF FRONT, SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WITH SCATTERED MVFR-IFR. CURRENT NOCTURNAL THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX WILL SPREAD MID AND HIGH DECK CLOUDS EARLY IN PERIOD. FIRST CLUSTER IN WESTERN OHIO SHOULD CONTINUE TO PROPAGATE DOWN THE THICKNESS LINES AND MOVE TO THE SOUTHEAST. COULD AFFECT ZZV WITH SHOWERS AND POSSIBLE -TSRA. FIRST LINE CONVECTION MAY WEAKEN INTO THE EARLY MORNING HOURS AS IT APPROACHES MORE STABLE AIR AND LOW LEVEL JET RELAXES. HOWEVER, SECOND CLUSTER NOW ENTERING INDIANA ACTUALLY INCREASING AT THIS TIME WITH INCREASE IN LIGHTING AND COOLING CLOUD TOPS. TIMED THREAT OF PRECIP INTO MAJORITY OF OTHER TERMINALS AROUND 17-18Z OR SO AND HELD ONTO POSSIBLE VCTS INTO 20Z. BEHIND FRONT RETURN TO VFR THROUGHOUT FORECAST AREA ABOUT 01-03Z. EXTENDED...WEDNESDAY LOOKS LIKE VFR CONDITIONS AND THEN ON THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY ANOTHER DISTURBANCE DROPS SOUTHEAST WHICH COULD SPREAD SOME MVFR CONDITIONS ACROSS AREA. HIGH PRESSURE WILL SLOWLY BUILD EAST INTO SATURDAY WITH VFR CONDITIONS. && .PBZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MD...NONE. OH...NONE. PA...NONE. WV...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 519 AM EDT TUE AUG 5 2008 MDZ001-OHZ039>041-048>050-057>059-068-069-PAZ007>009-013>016-020>023- 029>032-WVZ001>004-012-021>023-041-060930- GARRETT-TUSCARAWAS-CARROLL-COLUMBIANA-COSHOCTON-HARRISON- JEFFERSON OH-MUSKINGUM-GUERNSEY-BELMONT-NOBLE-MONROE-MERCER-VENANGO- FOREST-LAWRENCE-BUTLER-CLARION-JEFFERSON PA-BEAVER-ALLEGHENY- ARMSTRONG-INDIANA-WASHINGTON-WESTMORELAND-GREENE-FAYETTE-HANCOCK- BROOKE-OHIO-MARSHALL-WETZEL-MARION-MONONGALIA-PRESTON-TUCKER- 519 AM EDT TUE AUG 5 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN MARYLAND...EAST CENTRAL OHIO...NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA...SOUTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA...WEST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA...NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA AND NORTHERN PANHANDLE OF WEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AND EARLY TONIGHT AS A COLD FRONT MOVES INTO THE REGION. THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE DAMAGING WIND AND LARGE HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 241 AM EDT TUE AUG 5 2008 OHZ048-057-050745- COSHOCTON OH-MUSKINGUM OH- 241 AM EDT TUE AUG 5 2008 ...THUNDERSTORMS... THUNDERSTORMS TO MOVE THROUGH THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES... MUSKINGUM AND COSHOCTON... AT 237 AM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR IN PITTSBURGH INDICATED A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS 25 MILES WEST OF NEW GUILFORD...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 40 MPH. THE STORMS COULD REACH THE WESTERN PORTIONS OF COSHOCTON AND MUSKINGUM COUNTIES BETWEEN 315 PM TO 330 PM THIS MORNING. BE ALERT FOR VERY HEAVY DOWNPOURS, FREQUENT LIGHTNING, GUSTY WINDS AND POSSIBLY SMALL HAIL.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 328 AM EDT TUE AUG 5 2008 OHZ057-050815- MUSKINGUM OH- 330 AM EDT TUE AUG 5 2008 ...THUNDERSTORMS... THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE INTO MUSKINGUM COUNTY BY 340 AM. AT 330 AM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR IN PITTSBURGH INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS 4 MILES NORTH OF EAST FULTONHAM...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH. THE MOST ACTIVE STORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN PART OF THE COUNTY BETWEEN WESLEY AND ROSEVILLE. LOOK FOR GUSTY WINDS TO NEAR 30 MPH...BRIEF HEAVY DOWNPOURS...FREQUENT AND DANGEROUS LIGHTING...AND POSSIBLY SMALL HAIL. ALSO...BE ALERT FOR PONDING OF WATER ALONG INTERSTATE 70 AND POOR VISIBILITY...ESPECIALLY WEST OF ZANESVILLE THROUGH 415 PM.
The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 27 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 12:31 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Emergency management reported flash flooding with up to one foot of water flowing across the intersection of Allegheny Blvd. and Washington Blvd.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, August 2008
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: 130439.