Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 5, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at Jun 24, 1996, 3:25 PM EDT for Cambria County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 50 min. 3 reports 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
- Jun 24, 1996, 3:25 PM EDT (19:25 UTC)
- Expired
- Jun 24, 1996, 4:15 PM EDT
- In force
- 50 min
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Cambria County, PA
The radar
The State College radar (KCCX), 76 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:28 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 24, 3:30 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Westmont, PA | |
| Jun 24, 3:35 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Johnstown, PA | |
| Jun 24, 3:45 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | St Michael, 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
Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 7.4 hours before the alert went out and 205 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1076 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 29 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 32 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 93 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCTP 241925 TORCTP PAC021-242015- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 325 PM EDT MON JUN 24 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 415 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...... IN PENNSYLVANIA ...CAMBRIA COUNTY AT 325 PM EDT STATE COLLEGE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A STRONGLY ROTATING THUNDERSTORM APPROACHING THE JOHNSTOWN AREA. THE STORM WILL MOVE ACROSS JOHNSTOWN BY 330 PM AND CONTINUE EAST TO EAST CONEMAUGH BEFORE 345 PM. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.
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 Jun 24, 1:55 PM EDT, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 24, 1:55 PM EDT, 1 hour 30 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 200 PM EDT MON JUN 24 1996 ...SVR TSTM WATCH MOST OF CNTRL PA THIS AFTN/EVE FLASH FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES... MODELS SHOW TONGUE WARM MOIST UNSTABLE AIR OVER REGION THRU 7 PM TONIGHT. A LOW LEVEL WARM FRONT IS SLOWLY MVG NEWD ACROSS PA THIS AFTN. THE REMANENT CONVECTION FROM OVERNIGHT HAS REFIRED OVER SERN PA WITH SOME SUPERCELL LOOKING CELLS OVER ADAMS WHICH WAS MOVING INTO NRN MARYLAND. SATELLITE IMAGERY HAS SHOWN WHAT APPEARS TO BE A BACK BUILDING LINE MOVING ACROSS PA THIS AM INTO EARLY AFTN. BACK BUILDING LINES TYPICALLY PRODUCE SEVERE WEATHER AND FORM IN ENVIRONMENTS SIMILAR TO THOSE WHICH PRODUCE SUPERCELLS. FORTUNATELY...THE MOST ACTIVE PART OF THE BACK BUILDING LINE IS PRESENTLY MOVING OVER NRN MARYLAND. HOWEVER...A COLD FRONT AND A TONGUE OF WARM MOIST AIR WILL MOVE OVER THE STATE. ANOTHER LINE WILL LIKELY FORM AND MOVE WEST TO EAST ACROSS THE STATE. MOISTURE...CONV...AND LL AGEO WINDS/CONV OF...SUGGEST MOST SVRE TSTMS WILL FORM THIS AFTN. LOOKS LIKE BEST CHC WILL BE OVER SRN PORTIONS OF STATE. EXTREMELY HIGH DEW POINT AIR MVG IN BEHIND WARM FRONT SUGGEST THAT TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IS POSSIBLE. COLD FRONT AND DRIER AIR WILL MOVE OVER THE STATE EARLY TONIGHT. MODELS SHOW INC IN WRLY FLOW AND SHARP DEC IN RH BY 00 UTC OVER WRN SECTIONS. BY MIDNIGHT VSBY SHOULD BE QUITE GOOD OVER WRN THIRD OF STATE AND IMPROVING OVER CNTRL. ANY FOG BEHIND TSTMS ACTIVITY IN ERN SECTIONS WILL DISSIPATE OVERNIGHT...FOG SHOULD GONE BE WELL BEFORE SUNRISE IN MOST LOCATIONS. SHOULD BE A NICE START TO TUES AS COOLER DRIER AIR MOVES OVER REGION. MOS SHUD BE CLOSE TO MAX TEMPS TUES. GRUMM
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jun 24, 11:56 AM EDT, 3 hours 29 minutes before
PAZ004-005-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>036-041-045-046-049>052- 056-057-063>065-242200- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT- SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 1155 AM EDT MON JUN 24 1996 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM FOR WARREN AND MCKEAN COUNTIES... ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 2 PM FOR MOST OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA AND THE SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY... A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM FOR WARREN AND MCKEAN COUNTIES. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH CONTINUES IN EFFECT UNTIL 2 PM FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA AND THE SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY REGION: ELK... CAMERON... CLINTON... LYCOMING... CLEARFIELD... CENTRE... UNION... SNYDER... NORTHUMBERLAND... MONTOUR... CAMBRIA... BLAIR... HUNTINGDON... MIFFLIN... JUNIATA... PERRY... DAUPHIN... SOMERSET... BEDFORD... FULTON... FRANKLIN... CUMBERLAND... ADAMS AND YORK. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCRH MEANS THAT THUNDERSTORMS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 58 MPH AND HAIL 3/4 INCHES OR GREATER IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. NICOSIA
Local storm report, Jun 24, 2:06 PM EDT, 1 hour 19 minutes before
LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
205 PM EDT MON JUN 24 1996
TIME EDT ...CITY LOCATION..........ST ...EVENT/REMARKS
...COUNTY LOCATION........
0145 PM 5 S. GETTYSBURG PA WIND DAMAGE
06/24/96 ADAMS CHIMNEY BLOWN OVER
TREES DOWN TOP OF
SILO BLOWN OFF
DUNHAMThe office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 24, 12:12 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Franklin, Fulton | 63 min |
| Jun 24, 12:12 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Cumberland | 63 min |
| Jun 24, 12:27 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Bedford | 93 min |
| Jun 24, 12:27 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Bedford | 93 min |
| Jun 24, 12:36 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Adams, York | 69 min |
| Jun 24, 3:05 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Cambria, Somerset | 70 min |
| Jun 24, 3:50 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Bedford, Blair | 70 min |
| Jun 24, 3:54 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Somerset | 4 hr |
| Jun 24, 4:14 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Somerset | 61 min |
| Jun 24, 4:30 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Fulton, Huntingdon | 60 min |
| Jun 24, 5:08 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Franklin | 67 min |
| Jun 24, 5:27 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Adams, Cumberland | 63 min |
| Jun 24, 5:54 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | York | 66 min |
| Jun 24, 6:46 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Cumberland, Dauphin, Perry | 59 min |
| Jun 24, 7:59 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Lebanon | 3 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1996Every tornado warning in 1996Tornadoes 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.