Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 41, NWS Cleveland, OH

July 16, 1988Cameron County, Pennsylvania

NWS Cleveland, OH issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 16, 1988, 5:14 PM EDT for Cameron County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 46 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
Jul 16, 1988, 5:14 PM EDT (21:14 UTC)
Expired
Jul 16, 1988, 6:00 PM EDT
In force
46 min
Issued by
NWS Cleveland, OH
Area
Whole counties

County Cameron 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
Jul 16, 5:45 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 0Cameron, 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, 9.2 hours before the alert went out and 171 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 1988-07-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 17 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 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 1988-07-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 75 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 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
17 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-395 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1194 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
75 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
155 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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, Jul 16, 2:19 PM EDT, 2 hours 55 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Special weather statement, Jul 16, 3:24 PM EDT, 1 hour 50 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
325 PM EDT SAT JUL 16 19885

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE NOT DEVELOPED OVER OHIO YET THIS AFTERNOON...
BUT THEY SEEM TO BE GETTING CLOSER.

NORTHERN INDIANA AND SOUTHERN MICHIGAN WILL BE UNDER A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL EIGHT O' CLOCK THIS EVENING.  A SECOND SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WATCH WILL BE IN EFFECT FOR NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA AND
WESTERN NEW YORK UNTIL TEN O' CLOCK.

AT 315 THIS AFTERNOON...RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF INTENSE THUNDERSTORMS
OVER SOUTHERN ONTARIO.  GOLF BALL-SIZED HAIL AND INTENSE RAINFALL HAVE
BEEN REPORTED WITH THOSE STORMS.  MORE THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER THE
NORTHWESTERN CORNER OF PENNSYLVANIA.  ALL OF THESE STORMS WERE MOVING
EAST AT 35 MILES AN HOUR.

THE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE ALL DEVELOPED IN VERY UNSTABLE AIR--JUST LIKE
THE HOT...MUGGY AIR OVER OHIO THIS AFTERNOON.  A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE
INTO OHIO TONIGHT...AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP
AHEAD OF THAT FRONT.

THE SEVERE WEATHER WILL PROBABLY HIT NORTHERN OHIO FIRST...AND PEOPLE
THERE SHOULD BE PREPARED.  BE SURE TO LISTEN FOR THE LATEST FORECASTS
AND WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE...AND KEEP AND EYE ON
THE SKY.  IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.

PEROUTKA
Special weather statement, Jul 16, 4:29 PM EDT, 45 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 16, 2:52 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLEErie, Warren68 min
Jul 16, 5:02 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLEErie58 min
Jul 16, 5:14 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLEElk, Forest46 min
Jul 16, 6:25 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLEWarren65 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1988Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1988

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.