A combination of heavy rain and snow melt brought numerous streams and creeks out of there banks across Fayette, Westmoreland, and Indiana counties.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 episode as NWS PBZ wrote it up.
A combination of heavy rain and snow melt brought numerous streams and creeks out of there banks across Fayette, Westmoreland, and Indiana counties.
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 Dec 19, 10:12 PM EST, 1 hour 38 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 1012 PM EST FRI DEC 19 2008 .SYNOPSIS... A STORM SYSTEM WILL RAPIDLY MOVE TO THE EAST COAST TONIGHT. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD IN ON SATURDAY. ANOTHER STORM WILL BRING MORE PRECIPITATION SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY. && .NEAR TERM /THROUGH SATURDAY/... UPDATED FORECAST TO CANCEL WIND ADVISORY...WINDS HAVE DIMINISHED...AND TO ADD PATCHY DRIZZLE SOUTH AND FLURRIES NORTH REST OF THIS EVENING AND THE EARLY MORNING HOURS OF SATURDAY. STORM SYSTEM IS EXITING TO THE EAST COAST AND HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING INTO THE OHIO VALLEY WILL BRING DRY WEATHER FOR TONIGHT INTO SATURDAY. && .SHORT TERM /SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY/... ANOTHER FAST MOVING WINTER STORM WILL BRING PERIODS OF SNOW MIXED WITH RAIN IN THE SOUTH FOR LATE SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY MORNING. COLD BRISK WINDS WILL BRING LAKE EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS BEHIND THE STORM FOR SUNDAY AFTERNOON. && .LONG TERM /SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY/... ARCTIC AIR DIVES INTO THE AREA SUNDAY NIGHT. LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EARLY MORNING HOURS OF SUNDAY ALONG WITH GUSTY SFC WINDS. VERY COLD AIR AND SNOW SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH MONDAY. COLD HIGH BUILDS IN ON TUESDAY. ANOTHER WINTER STORM APPROACHES THE DISTRICT ON WEDNESDAY WITH SOME WARMER TEMPERATURES AND RAIN ON WED AND THEN RAIN CHANGING TO SNOW WED NIGHT. BEHIND THE SYSTEM LOOK FOR SNOW SHOWERS AND COLDER TEMPS THURSDAY. HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN THURSDAY NIGHT BRINGING DRY WEATHER FOR FRIDAY. && .AVIATION /03Z SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY/... MVFR CIGS OVERNIGHT. SURFACE LOW, AND ASSOCIATED PCPN, CONTINUES TO TRACK RAPIDLY EASTWARD AND DURING THE EARLY MORNING HOURS OF SATURDAY WILL MOVE OFF THE EAST COAST. SURFACE WINDS THIS EVENING WEST TO NORTHWEST 15 TO 25KTS GUSTING TO 35KTS...BEFORE DIMINISHING NE AT 10-15KTS. CIGS IMPROVING TO VFR SATURDAY AFTERNOON UNDER A SURFACE RIDGE. THE NEXT SYSTEM WILL BRING MIXED PRECIPITATION AND MVFR/IFR RESTRICTIONS SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY. RESTRICTIONS WILL LINGER THROUGH MONDAY AS NORTHWEST FLOW/COLDER AIR WILL LIKELY RESULT IN LAKE ENHANCED AND UPSLOPE SNOW SHOWERS. GENERALLY VFR WEATHER IS PREDICTED FOR LATE MONDAY INTO TUESDAY UNDER SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE. STILL ANOTHER SYSTEM IS FORECAST TO TRACK FROM THE SOUTHERN PLAINS INTO THE GREAT LAKES BY MIDWEEK. MORE IFR/MVFR RESTRICTIONS ARE LIKELY WITH THIS SYSTEM. && .PBZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MD...NONE. OH...NONE. PA...NONE. WV...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 1017 PM EST FRI DEC 19 2008 MDZ001-OHZ039>041-048>050-057>059-068-069-PAZ007>009-013>016-020>023- 029>032-WVZ001>004-012-021>023-041-210330- 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- 1017 PM EST FRI DEC 19 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...TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM WILL SPREAD SNOW INTO OUR AREA SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Law enforcement reported Butler Run and Spruce Run out of there banks and flooding near Route 982.
Law enforcement reported Two Lick Creek flooding near Josephine and Grafton along route 119.
Law enforcement reported flooding along the Loyalhanna Creek near Latrobe.
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, December 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: 146621, 146626, 146634.