Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 21, NWS State College, PA

April 23, 1996Adams County, York County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 23, 1996, 5:37 PM EDT for Adams County, York County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 53 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: Apr 23, 1996, 5:37 PM EDT (21:37 UTC)
Expired: Apr 23, 1996, 6:30 PM EDT
In force: 53 min
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Adams County, PA, York County, PA

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 111 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:37 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
Apr 23, 5:45 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Seven Valleys, 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

Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD (KAPG), launched 12:00Z, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 88 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: 2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -266 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1302 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 96 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 153 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 KCTP 232137
SVRCTP
PAC001-133-232230-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
537 PM EDT TUE APR 23 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...S...
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...SOUTHEASTERN ADAMS COUNTY...YORK COUNTY
 
AT 538 PM EDT STATE COLLEGE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM NEAR EMMITSBURG MARYLAND. THE THUNDERSTORM IS MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH AND WILL CROSS SOUTHEAST OF GETTYSBURG TO NEAR
HANOVER BY 545 PM.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLxY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.
 
DUNHAM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 23, 3:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Columbia, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland	46 min
Apr 23, 4:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Sullivan	48 min
Apr 23, 4:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Cambria, Somerset	59 min
Apr 23, 4:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Bedford, Blair	57 min
Apr 23, 5:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Fulton, Huntingdon	43 min
Apr 23, 5:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Centre, Mifflin	63 min
Apr 23, 5:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Cumberland, Franklin, Perry	63 min
Apr 23, 5:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Juniata	63 min
Apr 23, 5:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Snyder, Union	58 min
Apr 23, 6:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Adams	57 min
Apr 23, 6:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Dauphin, Northumberland	57 min
Apr 23, 6:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Columbia, Lebanon, Schuylkill	60 min
Apr 23, 6:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Montour	60 min
Apr 23, 6:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Lancaster	60 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.