Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 126, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 4, 1997, 5:54 PM EDT for Adams County, York County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 61 min. 1 report 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 4, 1997, 5:54 PM EDT (21:54 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 4, 1997, 6:55 PM EDT
- In force
- 61 min
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Adams County, PA, York County, PA
The radar
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 111 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:57 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 4, 6:10 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 51 | Franklintown, PA | Thunderstorms blew down trees. |
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
Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD (KAPG), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 88 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1323 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 39 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 38 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 144 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 042156 RRA SVRCTP PAC001-133-042255- BULLETIN- IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 554 PM EDT MON AUG 4 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 655 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA ...ADAMS COUNTY ...YORK COUNTY AT 551 PM EDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY STATE COLLEGE DOPPLER RADAR 17 MILES NORTH OF GETTYSBURG OR IN THE VICINITY OF MOUNT TABOR MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH. THE STORM WILL PASS NEAR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... MOUNT TABOR AND DILLSBURG BY 551 PM EDT YORK SPRINGS AND BIGLERVILLE BY 605 PM EDT GETTYSBURG BY 620 PM EDT NEW OXFORD AND ABBOTSTOWN BY 630 PM EDT YORK AIRPORT BY 635 PM EDT WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING. STAY AWAY4 FROM WINDOWS. DO NOT USE TELEPHONES OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED. DO NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS. LA CORTE/FITZGERALD
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 Aug 4, 12:47 PM EDT, 5 hours 7 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 4, 12:47 PM EDT, 5 hours 7 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 1245 PM EDT MON AUG 4 1997 ...SUGGESTIONS... CURRENT FCST LOOK OK...BUT WOULD PREFER NO SHOWERS FOR PIT ZNS AFT TUE MORNING. JUST CHECKED RADAR AGAIN...MAY NEED SOME THUNDER IN MOST AREAS TILL EARLY EVENING. ...DISCUSSION... SITUATION SIMILAR TO SETUP ABOUT 4 YEARS AGO WHEN A TOR HIT RIC VA. MAIN THING TODAY...IS PARAMETERS NOT PHASING. MOST AREAS GOT SOME NICE GENTLE RAIN. TIMING SUCH NOT TO FAVOR SEVERE FOR C PA. ECHOES NOW TURNING MORE E-NE...LOOKS LIKE PIVOT POINT OVER C VA...BUT UNLIKELY SE PA CAN RECOVER...GIVEN CLDS...DESPITE FAIRLY HI DEWPTS...THUS WOULD NOT EXPECT SEVERE. NY AND W PA NOW SOMEWHAT UNSTABLE WITH AFT HEATING. STORMS SO FAR ARE NOT REAL BIG...SO SMALL HAIL NOT LIKELY...BUT WILL HAVE TO WATCH. SOME ACTION LIKELY TO LINGER OVERNIGHT AND INTO TUE AM...AS COMPLEX WX PATTERN COMES TOGETHER. BEST CHC OF TUE AM SHOWERS WILL BE NE PA. HARD TO SEE MUCH DURING THE AFT...ESP. W AND C PA. WILL NOT BE IN A BIG RUSH TO CLEAR SKIES OUT IN TAFS. COULD BE A WET DAY TUE FOR THE COASTAL AREAS...ESP. NEW ENGLAND. RECORD COLD LIKELY TUE NIGHT AND WED NIGHT? MRARTIN
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 5:47 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Cumberland | 33 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1997Every 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.