Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 128, NWS Cleveland, OH

August 16, 1997Crawford County, Erie County, Pennsylvania

NWS Cleveland, OH issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 16, 1997, 11:18 AM EDT for Crawford County, Erie County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 57 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: Aug 16, 1997, 11:18 AM EDT (15:18 UTC)
Expired: Aug 16, 1997, 12:15 PM EDT
In force: 57 min
Issued by: NWS Cleveland, OH
Area: Whole counties

Counties Crawford County, PA, Erie County, PA

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 153 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:18 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 16, 11:30 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Erie, PA	A large building in Millcreek was destroyed.
Aug 16, 11:35 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Edinboro, PA	Trees were downed.
Aug 16, 11:39 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Meadville, PA	Up to 100 trees and many power lines were downed, and the county fair was left in shambles.

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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Aug 16, 8:15 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	4 hr
Aug 16, 11:00 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 3.3 hours before the alert went out and 162 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: 518 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -21 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 740 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 126 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 187 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 2.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

085 
WUUS1 KCLE 161520 RRA
SVRCLE
PAC039-049-161615-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
1118 AM EDT SAT AUG 16 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CLEVELAND HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1215 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...CRAWFORD COUNTY...ERIE COUNTY
 
AND THE ADJACENT WATERS OF LAKE ERIE
 
AT 1115 AM DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO WESTERN
ERIE AND NORTHWEST CRAWFORD COUNTIES FROM LAKE CITY TO JUST WEST OF
CONNEAUTVILLE. DAMAGING WINDS INDICATED WITH THESE STORMS.
 
THESE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH AND WILL AFFECT THE CITIES OF
ERIE...CORRY AND MEADVILLE.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DONT USE TELEPHONES
OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM
HAS PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.
 
SEM

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

Local storm report, Aug 16, 10:53 AM EDT, 25 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NWSFO CLEVELAND OHIO
1054 AM EDT SAT AUG 16 1997

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0830 AM    SWANTON                   OH   WIND DAMAGE
08/16/97   FULTON                         NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER
                                          LINES DOWN

1035 AM    OBERLIN                   OH   1.75 INCH HAIL
08/16/97   LORAIN

1050 AM    CHARDON                   OH   60 MPH TSTM GUST
08/16/97   GEAUGA

Local storm report, Aug 16, 10:54 AM EDT, 24 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NWSFO CLEVELAND OHIO
1054 AM EDT SAT AUG 16 1997

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0830 AM    SWANTON                   OH   WIND DAMAGE
08/16/97   FULTON                         NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER
                                          LINES DOWN

1035 AM    OBERLIN                   OH   1.75 INCH HAIL
08/16/97   LORAIN

1050 AM    CHARDON                   OH   60 MPH TSTM GUST
08/16/97   GEAUGA

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1997

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.