Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 1, NWS State College, PA

March 29, 1997Bedford County, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 29, 1997, 9:47 AM EST for Bedford County, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 43 min. 2 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: Mar 29, 1997, 9:47 AM EST (14:47 UTC)
Expired: Mar 29, 1997, 10:30 AM EST
In force: 43 min
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Bedford County, PA, Huntingdon County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 81 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:46 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
Mar 29, 9:55 AM EST	Hail 0.75	Langdondale, PA
Mar 29, 10:00 AM EST	Hail 0.75	Dudley, 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, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 160 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: 61 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -60 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 613 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 183 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 191 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.

863 
WUUS01 KCTP 291448 RRA
SVRCTP
PAC009-061-291530-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
947 AM EST SAT MAR 29 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1030 AM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...S...
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...NORTHEASTERN BEDFORD COUNTY...HUNTINGDON COUNTY
 
AT 945 AM EST... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM FROM
LOYSBURG AND YELLOW CREEK TO EVERETT IN NORTHEAST BEDFORD COUNTY. THE
STORM WILL REACH NEAR RIDDLESBURG... LANGDONDALE IN NORTHEAST BEDFORD
COUNTY BY 1000 AM AND INTO SOUTHWEST HUNTINGDON COUNTY BETWEEN 10 AND
1015 AM. RAYSTOWN LAKE WILL BE AFFECTED BY 1015 AM.
 
HAIL 3/4 INCH DIAMETER OR GREATER IS EXPECTED FROM THIS STORM.
 
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.
 
NICOSIA

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 Mar 29, 9:45 AM EST, 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 29, 9:45 AM EST, 2 minutes before

CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
945 AM EST SAT MAR 29 1997

KEEP HI POPS FOR RW/TRW IN ZONES... MENTION CHC FOR HAIL.

...DISCUSSION...
SHORT TERM WEATHER MAIN CONCERN. NUMEROUS REPORTS OF PEA TO 1/2
INCH DIAMETER HAIL OVER THE LAURELS AND ALSO BEDFORD COUNTY. HAIL
WHITENED THE GROUND ON MT DAVIS IN SOMERSET COUNTY EARLIER. KPBZ
AND KCCX 88D SHOWS SCTRD CONVECTION MOVING INTO CNTRL PA IN
ASSCTN WITH MIDDLE LVL COOLING THAT WAS TAKEN PLACE AS THE UPR
LVL WAVE MOVE INTO WRN PA. KCCX VWP SHOWS S-SW FLO AHEAD OF UPR
LVL WAVE WHICH WAS INCREASE LOW TO MIDDLE LEVEL MOISTURE
TRANSPORT UNDERNEATH SIGNIFICANT COOLING ALOFT TRIGGERING THE
CONVECTION. THINK HAIL MENTIONED IN SC/C MTN ZONES A GOOD IDEA.
WORRIED ABT SUS VLLY LATER TODAY. WITH DIURNAL HEATING RAISING
SFC TEMPS INTO THE 60S AT THE TIME THE UPR WAVE APPROACHES WITH
IT/S ATTENDANT MIDDLE LEVEL COOLING...  CAPES SHUD TOP 1000 J/KG
WITH DECENT SHEAR PROFILES IN THE LOW-LVL/S TO SUPPORT LINEAR
CONVECTION AND POTENTIAL SVR WX. SPOTTERS IN SC PA REPORTED GUSTS
TO 35 MPH FROM THE TRW IN SC MTNS NOW SO GUSTY WINDS MAY BE A
PROBLEM GIVEN DRY MID-LEVEL AIR WORKING IN WITH UPR LVL WAVE.
THUS... IN ADDTN TO LARGE HAIL THINK SOME STRG DMGG WINDS PSBL
SUS VLLY THIS AFTERN IF ENUF HEATING TAKES PLACE WHEN WAVE COMES
THRU. WILL BE MONITORING THRU THE AFTRN.

THAT/S IT.

...LAKE SNOW OUTLOOK...

SAT  7 AM TO SAT 7 PM...N
SAT  7 PM TO SUN 7 AM...N
SUN  7 AM TO SUN 7 PM...N

NICOSIA

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 29, 12:35 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Adams, York	55 min
Mar 29, 2:19 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Lancaster	26 min

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.