Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 1995

Tornado Warning 14, NWS State College, PA

July 25, 1995Centre County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at Jul 25, 1995, 8:46 PM EDT for Centre County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 29 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 25, 1995, 8:46 PM EDT (00:46 UTC)
Expired
Jul 25, 1995, 9:15 PM EDT
In force
29 min
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Centre County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 15 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:45 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 00:00Z, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 200 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 00:00Z on 1995-07-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 721 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 00:00Z on 1995-07-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 111 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
721 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-27 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
711 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
111 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
155 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
2.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCTP 260049
TORCTP
PAC027-260115-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
846 PM EDT TUE JUL 25 1995
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  915 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS......
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...WESTERN CENTRE COUNTY
 
AT 850 PM STATE COLLEGE DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED A POSSIBLE TORNADO OVER
SOUTHWEST CENTRE COUNTY NEAR SANDY RIDGE. THE STORM IS MOVING TO THE
NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH AND WILL PASS JUST NORTH OF PORT MATILDA BY 9 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.

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.

NWS State College, PA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jul 25, 8:00 PM EDT, 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 25, 8:00 PM EDT, 46 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
800 PM EDT TUE JUL 25 1995

TONIGHT/S CONVECTION NEVER SEEMS TO HAVE TAKEN ON THE ORGANIZED
APPEARANCE ONE WOULD HAVE EXPECTED LOOKING AT THE MODELS SFC MSTR
CONVERGENCE OR UVV PROGS.  ACTIVITY OVER THE CTP 33 HAS BEEN NON-
SEVERE AND NON-FLOODING ..... LET/S KEEP IT THAT WAY!  LOOKING AT
RAMSDIS... AREA OF CONCERN SHOULD PROBABLY BE FOCUSED MORE ON
ACTIVITY OVER SE OH/WV ATTM...ALTHOUGH THE LAST PICTURE AT 2315Z
SHOWS SOME WARMING OF THE COLDEST TOPS IS NOW OCCURRING THERE AS
WELL.

EXPECT ACTIVITY TO SLOWLY DIE OFF TONIGHT AS THE PCPN CONTINUES
TO TREK NORTHEAST.  THINK THE SVR POTENTIAL IS JUST ABOUT
OVER...JUST WILL HAVE TO WATCH FOR HEAVY RAIN.  TOMORROW WILL BE
ANOTHER 3H DAY.  POTENTIAL FOR ORGANIZED CONVECTION SEEMS LESS
TOMORROW... WITH MODELS NOT INDICATING ANY SYNOPTIC SCALE
FORCING.  STILL...OROGRAPHIC AND MESOSCALE EFFECTS WILL LIKELY
ACT TO TRIGGER SOME CVCN.  JUST A WAIT AND SEE GAME AS TO WHERE
THEY EVENTUALLY POP UP.

FOR NOW... CURRENT ZONES LOOK GOOD WITH EVENING RW/TRW ENDING...
THEN PARTLY CLOUDY.  ANOTHER ROUND OF CHC POPS FOR TOMORROW
AFTERNOON LOOKS GOOD AS WELL.  PERHAPS WOULD WANT TO ADD THE
MENTION OF SOME FOG IN THE OVERNIGHT ZONES...ESP WESTERN PA.

JUNG

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 25, 8:21 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCentre, Clearfield69 min
Jul 25, 8:24 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPCambria2 hr
Jul 25, 9:23 PM EDTTornado WarningCTPCentre37 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1995Every tornado warning in 1995Tornadoes in 1995

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.