Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 1994

Tornado Warning 11, NWS State College, PA

August 25, 1994Perry County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at Aug 25, 1994, 8:01 PM EDT for Perry County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 59 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 25, 1994, 8:01 PM EDT (00:01 UTC)
Expired
Aug 25, 1994, 9:00 PM EDT
In force
59 min
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Perry County, PA

The nearest sounding before it

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 00:00Z, 0.0 hours before the alert went out and 161 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, Washington/Dulle, VA at 00:00Z on 1994-08-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 842 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, Washington/Dulle, VA at 00:00Z on 1994-08-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 65 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
842 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
981 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
65 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
136 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
0.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCTP 260001
TORCTP
PAC099-260100-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
801 PM EDT THU AUG 25 1994
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  900 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS......
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...EASTERN PERRY COUNTY
 
AT 8 PM EDT STATE COLLEGE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A ROTATING
THUNDERSTORM WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO OVER EASTERN PERRY COUNTY NEAR
NEWPORT. THE STORM WAS MOVING SOUTH AND SHOULD REACH THE DUNCANNON AREA
BEFORE 830 PM.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.
 
DUNHAM

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado 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, Aug 25, 3:46 PM EDT, 4 hours 15 minutes before
PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>037-041-042-
045-046-049>053-056>059-063>066-252100-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND NOWCAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
340 PM EDT THU AUG 25 1994

...ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE OVER CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA THIS
AFTERNOON...

STORMS WITH TORRENTIAL RAIN...AND POSSIBLE BRIEF GUSTY WINDS AND
SMALL HAIL...WERE OVER WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA...JUST WEST OF DUBOIS
...AND 20 MILES NORTH OF WILLIAMSPORT AT 330 PM.

THESE STORMS ARE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MILES AN HOUR...AND WILL
BE JUST EAST OF WILLIAMSPORT AND PHILIPSBURG BY 5 PM.

OTHER STORMS WERE JUST SOUTHEAST OF ERIE...AND WILL BE MOVING
ACROSS SOUTHWEST WARREN COUNTY BY 430 PM.  THESE STOHRMS MAY HAVE
BRIEF GUSTY WINDS AND SMALL HAIL.

IF THREATENING WEATHER OCCURS...SEEK SHELTER QUICKLY.

MARTIN

The office that day

Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 25, 8:13 PM EDTTornado WarningCTPCumberland, Dauphin62 min
Aug 25, 8:30 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPCentre, Union4 hr
Aug 25, 8:50 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPClinton3 hr
Aug 25, 9:34 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPCumberland4 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1994Every tornado warning in 1994Tornadoes in 1994

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.