Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 64, NWS State College, PA

June 7, 1996Montour County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 7, 1996, 5:59 PM EDT for Montour County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 16 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jun 7, 1996, 5:59 PM EDT (21:59 UTC)
Expired
Jun 7, 1996, 6:15 PM EDT
In force
16 min
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Montour County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 114 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:01 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

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 240 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 12:00Z on 1996-06-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 369 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 12:00Z on 1996-06-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 160 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
369 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-165 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
540 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
160 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
232 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 072159
SVRCTP
PAC093-072215-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
559 PM EDT FRI JUN 7 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  615 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS......
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...MONTOUR COUNTY
 
AT 555 PM STATE COLLEGE RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR OTTAWA.
THIS STORM IS MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH AND WILL BE EXITING THE COUNTY BY
615 PM.
 
 
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DON'T USE TELEPHONES
OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM
HAS PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.

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 Jun 7, 2:53 PM EDT, 3 hours 6 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 7, 2:53 PM EDT, 3 hours 6 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
255 PM EDT FRI JUN 07 1996

...ZONE SUGGESTION/COORD...
...PIT...NO SIG CHANGES.
...PHL...NO SIG CHANGES.

...DISCUSSION...
SCATTERED T-STRMS AND PLENTY OF CU POPPING UP IN CNTRL PA CURRENTLY
DUE TO COMBINATION OF DIFFERENTIAL HTG OVR MTNS AND SOME WK UPR AIR
FORCING AHEAD OF FRONTAL SYSTEM OVER INDIANA.  ETA APPEARS TO
CONFINE MOST OF SHORT-TERM ACTION TO THE NW AND CENTRAL PA THRU
F24...WITH GREATEST QPF IN NW MTNS.  ATMOSPHERE REMAINS FAIRLY
UNSTABLE THRU PERIOD AS FRONT SLIDES TOWARD THE AREA.  UPR LVL LOW
STAYS FAIRLY STATIONARY THRU F24 RESULTING IN LITTLE PUSH ALOFT TO
MOVE FRONT THROUGH THE AREA.  RESULT WILL BE CONTINUED POSSIBILITY
OF CONVECTION AHEAD OF FRONT THRU THE PERIOD.  FRONT SHOULD BE MAIN
FOCUSING MECHANISM DURING PERIOD AS MOST OF THE UPR AIR SUPPORT
STAYS ALONG THE BOUNDARY.  BECAUSE OF THIS...WOULD EXPECT NW TO SEE
MOST OF THE ACTIVITY TONIGHT WITH A FEW T-STRMS REACHING EASTWARD.
WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS DRY AIR WORKING INTO CENTRAL PA.  THIS
COULD BE HELPING TO FOCUS SOME ACTION ALONG THE EDGE OF THE DRY AIR
IN THE NW AND MAY SHUT OFF CONVECTION ELSEWHERE...UNLESS ABLE TO
BREAK THE CAP.

GUIDANCE SEEMS REASONABLE.  FRONT WILL REMAIN IN THE AREA
THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD...THEREFORE WARRANTS CHC POPS THROUGHOUT THE
PERIOD AND ADJUSTMENTS PER GUIDANCE.

WIDENOR/NICOSIA

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jun 7, 12:44 PM EDT, 5 hours 15 minutes before
PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>035-037-041-042-045-046-
049>053-080000-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1245 PM EDT FRI JUN 7 1996

...THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS
MOST OF NORTH CENTRAL - NORTHWEST AND SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FROM
LATE AFTERNOON THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS...

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THIS EVENING
ROUGHLY NORTH AND WEST OF A BEDFORD TO BLOOMSBURG LINE IN THE CENTRAL
THIRD OF PENNSYLVANIA. THE SLIGHT RISK AREA INCLUDES THE NORTHERN
MOUNTAINS... MUCH OF THE MIDDLE AND UPPER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY REGIONS...
THE CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL MOUNTAINS AND THE LAUREL HIGHLANDS.

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP LATE THIS AFTERNOON OR
EARLY THIS EVENING AND BECOME MORE NUMEROUS DURING THE EVENING HOURS.
ANY THUNDERSTORM THAT FORMS THIS AFTERNOON OR EVENING WILL HAVE THE
POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 58 MPH...  AND LARGE
HAIL.

PERSONS PLANNING OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES ACROSS MUCH OF NORTHERN AND WESTERN
PENNSYLVANIA INTO THE EVENING HOURS SHOULD MONITOR SHORT-TERM FORECASTS
AND SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENTS AND LISTEN FOR POSSIBLE WATCHES AND/OR
WARNINGS.

SKYWARN SPOTTER NETWORKS MAY HAVE TO BE ACTIVATED LATE THIS AFTERNOON
AND THIS EVENING.

NICOSIA

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 7, 4:26 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCumberland, Perry64 min
Jun 7, 6:21 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPNorthumberland, Union39 min
Jun 7, 6:25 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPColumbia65 min
Jun 7, 7:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPColumbia30 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1996Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.