Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 26, NWS Cleveland, OH

May 30, 1987Potter County, Pennsylvania

NWS Cleveland, OH issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 30, 1987, 6:25 PM EDT for Potter County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 65 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
May 30, 1987, 6:25 PM EDT (22:25 UTC)
Expired
May 30, 1987, 7:30 PM EDT
In force
65 min
Issued by
NWS Cleveland, OH
Area
Whole counties

County Potter 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
May 30, 6:45 PM EDTHail 0.75Potter, 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

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 237 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1987-05-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1755 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1987-05-30The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -10 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
1755 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-50 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1131 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-18 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 302225
SVRERI
PAC105-302330-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ERIE PA
625 PM EDT SAT MAY 30 1987

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 730 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTY OF

NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA...POTTER

AT 620 PM RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM LOCATED NEAR
SHINGLEHOUSE IN NORTHWEST POTTER COUNTY MOVING TOWARDS THE
EAST AT 20 MILES AN HOUR.

 THIS STORM WILL CAUSE VERY HEAVY DOWNPOURS WITH FLOODING OF
 SMALL STREAMS ROADWAYS AND LOW LYING AREAS ALONG WITH STRONG GUSTY
 WINDS...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND LARGE 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, May 30, 1:26 PM EDT, 4 hours 59 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
120 PM EDT SAT MAY 30 1987

VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WERE DEVELOPING OVER LAKESHORE COUNTIES.

AT 120 THIS AFTERNOON WEATHER RADAR SHOWED THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY
HEAVY RAINS IN EASTERN LAKE... NORTHEAST GEAUGA COUNTIES. THEY WERE
MOVING NORTHEAST INTO ASHTABULA COUNTY. A THUNDERSTORM WITH HEAVY RAIN
WAS ALONG ROUTE 224 BETWEEN GREENWHICH AND LODI IN NORTHERN ASHLAND
COUNTY.

A THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WAS SOUTH OF LAKESHORE AREA IT
WAS NORTHWEST OF MANSFIELD NEAR THE CITY OF SHELBY IN NORTHWEST
RICHLAND COUNTY.

THE STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AROUND 15 MILES AN HOUR. THEY WILL
CONTINUE TO DEVELOP OVER THE LAKESHORE AREA THROUGH THE AFTERNOON.
THEY CAN PRODUCE VERY HEAVY RAINS... HAIL.. AND GUSTY WINDS.
THOMPSON
Special weather statement, May 30, 3:45 PM EDT, 2 hours 40 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
345 PM EDT SAT MAY 20 1987

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCHES REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR ALL OF OHIO EXCEPT THE
NORTHWEST COUNTIES UNTIL 8 PM EDT.

AT 320 PM EDT WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS FROM
THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF OHIO TO CLEVELAND... AND THEN TO COLUMBUS. A
RELATIVELY LARGE AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS COVERED MOST OF THE STATE SOUTH
AND WEST OF COLUMBUS.  MOST OF THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST
AT ABOUT 20 MPH.

THE THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOPED IN OHIO THIS AFTERNOON ARE CAPABLE OF
PRODUCING BOTH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. HAILSTONES 3/4 INCH IN
DIAMETER FELL ON ASHTABULA COUNTY BETWEEN 215 PM AND 230 PM. THE
WEATHER SERVICE RECEIVED AN UNCOMFIRMED REPORT OF WIND DAMAGE FROM THE
GEAUGA COUNTY COMMMUNITY OF THOMPSON AT 305 PM.

BESIDES HAIL AND HIGH WINDS... OHIOANS COULD ALSO EXPERIENCE HEAVY
DOWNPOORS FROM THE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING ACROSS THE STAjTE. RESIDENTS OF
THE BUCKEYE STATE SHOULD REMAIN ALERT FOR THREATENING WEATHER AND
LISTEN FOR LATEST STATEMENTS FROM THE WEATHER SERVICE.

KWIATKOWSKI
Special weather statement, May 30, 5:49 PM EDT, 36 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
549 PM EDT SAT MAY 30 1987

WARNINGS FOR LORAIN AND CUYAHOGA COUNTIES HAVE EXPIRED.

IN LORAIN COUNTY...THERE WERE SEVERAL REPORTS OF 50 TO 60 MPH WINDS...
HALF TO THREE QUARTER INCH HAIL... AND TORRENTIAL RAINS BETWEEN 420 AND
515 PM.

NO SEVERE WEATHER WAS REPORTED IN CUYAHOGA COUNTY BETWEEN 430 AND 545PM.

AT 545PM... RADAR WAS SHOWING AN EXTENSIVE AREA OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS FROM THE LAKESHORE OF LORAIN COUNTY WEST ACROSS ERIE
COUNTY THEN SOUTHWEST TO FINDLAY AREA OF NORTHWEST OHIO. STORMS WERE
DRIFTING EAST NORTHEAST AT 15 TO 20 MPH.

MANY OF THE STORMS BETWEEN CLEVELAND AND TOLEDO WILL PRODUCE TORRENTIAL
RAINS FOR AN HOURS TIME CAUSING LOCALIZED STREET FLOODING... GUSTY WINDS
TO 40 MPH AND SOME SMALL HAIL THIS EVENING.

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR VIRTUALLY ALL OF OHIO WILL CONTINUE
IN EFFECT TIL 8PM.
DRAG

The office that day

Everything else NWS Cleveland, OH issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 30, 1:38 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLECrawford67 min
May 30, 1:52 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLEErie68 min
May 30, 2:50 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLECrawford, Erie60 min

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.