Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 201, NWS State College, PA

August 15, 1996Elk County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 15, 1996, 6:55 PM EDT for Elk County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 65 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: Aug 15, 1996, 6:55 PM EDT (22:55 UTC)
Expired: Aug 15, 1996, 8:00 PM EDT
In force: 65 min
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Whole counties

County Elk County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:59 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Aug 15, 7:30 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	St Marys, 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 166 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: 574 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -51 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1073 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 81 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 74 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.

NWS State College, PA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 15, 12:07 PM EDT, 6 hours 48 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 15, 12:07 PM EDT, 6 hours 48 minutes before

CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1205 PM EDT THU AUG 15 1996

FIRST SET OF STORMS DIED...FEW MORE TRYING TO FIRE NE PA...SE NY
...AND SE PA.

FIRST FRONT TO THE NORTH NOW...MAIN FRONT TO THE WEST...WITH
STRONG CELL N OF L ERIE.  BEST DYNAMICS STAY NW OF CWA THRU
00Z...AND WIND FIELDS NOT REAL STRONG...BUT INSTABILITY REMAINS
HI.

LOOKS LIKE ANYTHING THAT GETS GOING WILL BE OUT OF W PA BY
MIDNIGHT OR SHORTLY LATER...WHILE ACTION COULD FIRE AGAIN ACROSS
E PA FRIDAY AFT...AS THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH COMES THRU.

LOOKS LIKE WE WILL GET THE FRONT THRU FOR THE WKEND...NOT MUCH
MORE THAN A WIND SHIFT LINE/HZ CLEANER...AS AIRMASS MODIFIES.

LOOKS >LIKE SAME OLD PATTERN WILL RELOAD AT SOME PT NEXT WK.

TEMPS NEAR NORMAL THROUGHOUT PERIOD.

MARTIN

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 15, 2:16 PM EDT, 4 hours 39 minutes before

PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>036-160000-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
208 PM EDT THU AUG 15 1996

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM EDT FROM THE
NORTHERN MOUNTAINS TO LAUREL HIGHLANDS...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 800 PM EDT THURSDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES:

WARREN...MCKEAN...POTTER...ELK...CAMERON...CLEARFIELD...NORTHERN

CLINTON...CENTRE...CAMBRIA...BLAIR...HUNTINGDON...MIFFLIN...JUNIATA...

SOMERSET...BEDFORD...FULTON...AND FRANKLIN.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE LARGE DAMAGING HAIL 3/4 OF AN INCH
IN DIAMETER OR LARGER...DAMAGING WINDS OF 58 MPH OR GREATER...
AND DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING.

REMEMBER...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE
FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PEOPLE IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

FITZGERALD

END/LAST NAME

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 14, 8:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Centre	25 min
Aug 15, 7:06 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Huntingdon	69 min
Aug 15, 7:09 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Huntingdon	3 hr
Aug 15, 3:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Warren	73 min
Aug 15, 4:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Warren	62 min
Aug 15, 4:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Centre	94 min
Aug 15, 5:39 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Warren	4 hr
Aug 15, 5:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Warren	77 min
Aug 15, 6:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	McKean	119 min
Aug 15, 6:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Centre	75 min
Aug 15, 7:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Potter	61 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1996

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.