Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 119, NWS State College, PA

July 22, 1997Lancaster County, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 22, 1997, 12:11 AM EDT for Lancaster County, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 64 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: Jul 22, 1997, 12:11 AM EDT (04:11 UTC)
Expired: Jul 22, 1997, 1:15 AM EDT
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Lancaster County, PA, Lebanon County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 161 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:10 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 00:00Z, 4.2 hours before the alert went out and 166 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: 2692 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1120 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 51 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 87 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.1
Supercell composite: 5.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCTP 220412 RRA
SVRCTP
PAC071-075-220515-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1211 AM EDT TUE JUL 22 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  115 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...S...
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...LANCASTER COUNTY...EASTERN LEBANON COUNTY
 
AT MIDNIGHT...RADAR INDICATED SEVERE STORMS JUST SOUTHEAST OF LEBANON.
 
THE STORMS ARE MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH...AND WILL LIKELY MOVE ACROSS
NORTHERN LANCASTER COUNTY.  THE STRONGEST STORMS SHOULD STAY NORTH AND
EAST OF EPHRATA.  OTHER STORMS WILL STILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS SOUTHERN
LANCASTER COUNTY...SO STAY ALERT FOR RAPID CHANGES IN CONDITIONS.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY 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.
 
MARTIN

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 Jul 21, 8:54 PM EDT, 3 hours 17 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 21, 8:54 PM EDT, 3 hours 17 minutes before

CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
845 PM EDT MON JUL 21 1997

...DISCUSSION...
A VERY COMPLEX WEATHER PATTERN....

SFC CHART SHOWS A WAVY FRONTAL BNDRY STRETCHING FROM CT WESTWARD
TO A SFC LOW PRESSURE IN NE PA THEN INTO WESTERN NY. A TROF
EXTENDS SOUTHWARD ACROSS E PA INTO N-CENTRAL VA. MOISTURE HAS
BEEN POOLING EAST OF THIS BNDRY...AND IN FACT TSTMS HAVE BEEN
FIRING ALONG THIS BNDRY IN N VA.

NONE OF THE MODELS CORRECTLY FORECASTED CURRENT CONDITIONS. THE
MESOETA APPEARS TO BE HOLDING UP THE BEST.

SHOWERS PUSHING INTO W PA HAVING A DIFFICULT TIME MOVING INTO
CENTRAL PA BECAUSE OF THE VERY DRY AIRMASS. MESOETA HOWEVER FCST
MUCH OF CENTRAL PA TO MOISTEN UP OVER NIGHT SO EXPECT SHOWERS TO
EVENTUALLY OVERSPREAD MOST OF PA BY MORNING. OTHER ACTIVITY
ACROSS N VA MAY SLIDE INTO SE PA LATER TONIGHT AND BEARS
WATCHING.

SEE NO REASON TO DEVIATE FROM CURRENT FCST.

WINTHER

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 21, 11:15 PM EDT, 56 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1115 PM EDT MON JUL 21 1997

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

1030 PM    GREEN VILLAGE             PA   WIND DAMAGE
07/21/97   FRANKLIN                       TREES DOWN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 21, 10:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Franklin	47 min
Jul 21, 10:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Schuylkill	64 min
Jul 21, 11:23 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Dauphin, Lebanon	47 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.