Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1995

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 49, NWS Pittsburgh, PA

May 24, 1995Beaver County, Pennsylvania

NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 24, 1995, 6:40 PM EDT for Beaver County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 35 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 24, 1995, 6:40 PM EDT (22:40 UTC)
Expired
May 24, 1995, 7:15 PM EDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS Pittsburgh, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Beaver County, PA

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 20 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:35 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 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 37 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 1995-05-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 9 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 1995-05-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 240 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
9 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-115 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1294 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
240 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
217 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 KPIT 242241
SVRPIT
PAC007-242315-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
640 PM EDT WED MAY 24 1995
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  715 PM EDT
FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...BEAVER COUNTY
 
AT 638 DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR SHIPPINGPORT.
THE STORM IS MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH AND WILL PASS NEAR ALIQUIPPA AND
BADEN.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM.  IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH...PREPARE FOR
DAMAGING WIND OVER 55 MPH...LARGE HAIL...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING.  TAKE
SHELTER INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

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 24, 1:06 PM EDT, 5 hours 34 minutes before
PAZ00>009-013>016-020>023-029>032-WVZ001>004-280300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT - WIND ADVISORY DISCONTINUED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
850 PM EDT THU APR 27 1995

THE WIND ADVISORY IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR THE AREA.

WINDS WILL STILL BETWEEN 15 AND 25 MPH AND GUSTY THROUGH EARLY TONIGHT
...BUT NOT AS STRONG AS EARLIER TODAY.

PALKO/DAVIS/PARRISH
Special weather statement, May 24, 1:08 PM EDT, 5 hours 32 minutes before
PAZ007>009-013>016-020>023-029>032-WVZ001>004-WV012-021>023-041-
OHZ039>041-048>050->059-068-069-MDZ001-250000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
110 PM EDT WED MAY 24 1995

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER MUCH OF WESTERN
PENNSYLVANIA...EXTREME NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA...SOUTHEASTERN OHIO AND
GARRETT COUNTY MARYLAND.

A COLD FRONT WAS SINKING SOUTH FROM LAKE ERIE THIS AFTERNOON. WARM
UNSTABLE AIR AHEAD OF THE FRONT WAS BEING TRANSPORTED INTO THE REGION BY
STRONG SOUTHWESTERLY WINDS.

THE AIRMASS WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE WITH THE HEATING OF THE
DAY. WITH THE COLD FRONT APPROACHING...STRONG AND POSSIBLY SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 50 KNOTS/
58 MPH COULD DEVELOP.

LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON THIS
POTENTIAL DEVELOPING SEVERE WEATHER SITUATION.
WJD

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 24, 3:52 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZMercer53 min
May 24, 4:19 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZLawrence56 min
May 24, 4:32 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZVenango58 min
May 24, 4:38 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZButler67 min
May 24, 4:49 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZClarion, Forest56 min
May 24, 4:57 PM EDTTornado WarningPBZForest48 min
May 24, 5:21 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZJefferson69 min
May 24, 6:15 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZButler30 min
May 24, 6:29 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZArmstrong61 min
May 24, 6:54 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZAllegheny, Washington66 min
May 24, 7:01 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZButler44 min
May 24, 7:10 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZIndiana50 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1995Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.