Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 1, NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly

May 10, 1988Chester County, Pennsylvania

NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 10, 1988, 7:44 PM EDT for Chester County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 31 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 10, 1988, 7:44 PM EDT (23:44 UTC)
Expired: May 10, 1988, 8:15 PM EDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Philadelphia/Mount Holly
Area: Whole counties

County Chester County, PA

The radar

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

The nearest sounding before it

Atlantic City In, NJ (KACY), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 122 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 878 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 57 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 38 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 KPHL 102345
SVRPHL
PAC029-110015-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHILADELPHIA PA
744 PM EDT TUE MAY 10 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PHILADELPHIA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  815 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA
          ...NORTHERN CHESTER
 
AT 735 PM WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN
NORTHERN CHESTER COUNTY SOUTH OF POTTSTOWN. THIS THUNDERSTORM WAS
MOVING VERY SLOWLY EASTNORTHEAST.  THIS THUNDERSTORM PRODUCED 1 INCH
HAIL EARLIER AS IT MOVED THROUGH NORTHERN LANCASTER COUNTY.
 
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM.  IF YOU ARE IN THE WARNED AREA...BE
PREPARED FOR STRONG DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN
AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.  SHOULD THE STORM APPROACH YOU...SEEK
IMMEDIATE SHELTER.  MOBILE HOMES ARE MOST VULNERABLE TO HIGH WINDS
AND SHOULD BE AVOIDED.
 
SP

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 10, 7:12 PM EDT, 32 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHILADELPHIA, PA
711 PM EDT TUE MAY 10 1988

...STRONG THUNDERSTORM WITH HAIL NEAR CHESTER...LANCASTER...BERKS
   COUNTY BORDER IN PENNSYLVANIA...

    AT 7 PM WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORM
IN LANCASTER COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA NEAR THE BORDER WITH CHESTER AND
BERKS COUNTIES.  THIS THUNDERSTORM HAD PRODUCED HEAVY RAIN AND
3/4 TO 1 INCH HAIL EARLIER AS IT MOVED THROUGH LITITZ AND MANHEIM IN
LANCASTER COUNTY.   IT WAS MOVING VERY SLOWLY EASTNORTHEAST.

     THIS IS A DANGEROUS THUNDERSTORM AND PERSONS IN ITS VICINITY
SHOULD BE PREPARED TO MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY.  IN CHESTER COUNTY
THE THUNDERSTORM MAY AFFECT THE AREA NORTH AND WEST OF HONEYBROOK.

SP

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1988 Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.