Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 128, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 5, 1997, 6:41 PM EDT for Franklin County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 64 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 5, 1997, 6:41 PM EDT (22:41 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 5, 1997, 7:45 PM EDT
- In force
- 64 min
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Franklin County, PA
The radar
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 108 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:40 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 5, 6:50 PM EDT | Hail 0.75 | Dry Run, 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, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 112 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
- 1203 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -76 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -14 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 052243 RRA SVRCTP PAC055-052345- BULLETIN- IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 641 PM EDT TUE AUG 5 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 745 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA ...FRANKLIN COUNTY AT 639 PM EDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY STATE COLLEGE DOPPLER RADAR 18 MILES NORTHWEST OF CHAMBERSBURG OR IN THE VICINITY OF DRY RUN MOVING SOUTH AT 15 MPH. THE STORM WILL PASS NEAR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... DRY RUN BY 639 PM EDT SPRING RUN BY 639 PM EDT ROXBURY BY 655 PM EDT UPPER STRASBURG BY 705 PM EDT LETTERKENNY ARMY DEPOT BY 720 PM EDT IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A STRONG BUILDING. DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VE,RY HEAVY RAIN AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED. FITZGERALD/WINTHER
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 5, 12:45 PM EDT, 5 hours 56 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 5, 12:45 PM EDT, 5 hours 56 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 1245 PM EDT TUE AUG 5 1997 ...SUGGESTIONS... MAY NEED ISOLATED SHOWERS/STORMS INTO EARLY EVENING ALL ZNS. MAYBE RAISE MIN TEMPS TONIGHT A SHADE...ALL ZNS. ...DISCUSSION... STRONG CYCLONIC FLOW AND JET MAX...ALONG WITH COLD AIR ALOFT AND HEATING HAS TRIGGERED SOME STORMS. STORMS COULD OCCUR JUST ABOUT ANYWHERE TO HEATING IS LOST. SOME SMALL HAIL POSSIBLE...MOST LIKELY SHOULD NOT BE SEVERE FOR THE MOST PART. LACK OF DRY AIR MOVING IN...AND TENDENCY FOR MODELS TO HOLD LOW LEVEL RH IN LONGER...MINS MAY NOT GET REAL LOW. STILL SHOULD CLEAR LATER. FOR WED...NGM HAS ANOTHER VORT MAX AND STILL COLD ALOFT WITH CYCLONIC FLOW. THUS SC/CU LIKELY...MAYBE EVEN A RW-. TEMPS OK...BUT OK IF ONE WANTS TO GO A SHADE HIGHER. LONG TERM LOOKS LIKE A PATTERN CHANGE. MAYBE NICE INTO WEEKEND...BUT MAY BE GOING TO A SLIGHTLY WETTER PATTERN. LOOKS A LITTLE LIKE FALL. AWFUL DEEP VORTEX. MISC. NICE LOOKING HURRICANE OFF W COAST...WOW MARTIN
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 6:31 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Huntingdon | 64 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.