Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 111, NWS Cleveland, OH

September 17, 1987Erie County, Pennsylvania

NWS Cleveland, OH issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 17, 1987, 1:56 PM EDT for Erie County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 64 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
Sep 17, 1987, 1:56 PM EDT (17:56 UTC)
Expired
Sep 17, 1987, 3:00 PM EDT
In force
64 min
Issued by
NWS Cleveland, OH
Area
Whole counties

County Erie County, PA

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Sep 17, 2:05 PM EDTHail 1.5Erie, PA

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 5.9 hours before the alert went out and 146 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 1987-09-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 1987-09-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 92 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
573 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
92 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
172 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KERI 171756
SVRERI
PAC049-171900-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ERIE PA
156 PM EDT THU SEP 17 1987

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 300 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTIES OF

NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA...ERIE AND AND ADJACENT LAKE ERIE WATERS

AT 150 PM EDT RADAR SHOEWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ALONG THE
LAKESHORE NEAR THE CITY OF ERIE. THIS STORM IS MOVING TOWARDS
THE EAST AT 15 MILES AN HOUR AND WILL AFFECT THE LAKESHORE
AREA FROM THE CITY OF ERIE EASTWARD.

THESE STORMS WILL CAUSE SOME FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS AND
LOW LYING AREAS.

SMALL BOATERS ON LAKE ERIE AND PRESQUE ISLE BAY SHOULD SEEK
SAFE HARBOR.

THESE STORMS ARE ACCOMPANIED BY DANGEROUS LIGHTNING..STRONG GUSTY
WINDS AND HAIL.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 17, 10:40 AM EDT, 3 hours 16 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ERIE, PA
1032 AM EDT THU SEP 17 1987

.....STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARCOSS NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA...

AT 1030 AM EDT RADAR SHOWED SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS PORTIONS OF
NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA...WESTERN NEW YORK AND CENTRAL LAKE ERIE.

THE STRONGEST STORMS WERE LOCATED EAST OF THE CITY OF ERIE...OVER THE
LAKE JUST OFF PRESQUE ISLE STATE PARK AND ALONG THE NEW YORK BORDER
NORTH OF YOUNGSVILLE IN NORTHERN WARREN COUNTY.

THESE STORMS ARE MOVING EASTWARD AT 15 MILES AN HOUR AND WILL AFFECT
NORTHERN PORTIONS OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS.

SOME OF THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE STRONG GUSTY WINDS...DANGEROUS
LIGHTNING...HEAVY /DOWNPOURS AND SMALL HAIL.

SMALL BOATERS ON LAKE ERIE AND PRESQUE ISLE BAY SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT
FOR THREATENING WEATHER.
PARRISH

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1987Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1987

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.