Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 32, NWS State College, PA

May 19, 1997McKean County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 19, 1997, 5:20 PM EDT for McKean County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 55 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
May 19, 1997, 5:20 PM EDT (21:20 UTC)
Expired
May 19, 1997, 6:15 PM EDT
In force
55 min
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County McKean County, PA

The watch it was issued in

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

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 19, 5:15 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 125 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 1997-05-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 1997-05-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 222 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
493 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
222 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
248 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.

699 
WUUS01 KCTP 192122 RRA
SVRCTP
PAC083-192215-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
520 PM EDT MON MAY 19 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  615 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS......
 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...MCKEAN COUNTY
 
AT 520 PM RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDING FROM
RUSSELL TO TIDIOUTE. THIS LINE WILL MOVE EAST AT 50 MPH...REACHING FROM
BRADFORD TO KANE BY 545 PM. BY 6 PM THE LINE WILL EXTEND FROM ELDRED TO
MARVINDALE.
 
 
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.

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 May 19, 2:09 PM EDT, 3 hours 11 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 19, 2:09 PM EDT, 3 hours 11 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
205 PM EDT MON MAY 19 1997

PIT/PHL...TRW (POSSIBLE SVR) FOR THE EVENING HOURS.

COLD FRONT APPROACHING NW OH ATTM. DEWPTS AHEAD OF FRONT WELL
INTO THE 60S WITH TEMPS IN THE UPPER 70/LOW 80S. LI'S ACROSS OH
IN THE RANGE OF -4 TO -6. EXPECT LINE OF TRW TO DEVELOP AHEAD OF
FRONT LATER THIS AFTN AS AIRMASS CONTINUES TO DESTABLIZE. OTHER
THUNDERSTORMS ALREADY DEVELOPING ALONG RIDGES IN E KY/WV. IF
ACTIVITY DEVELOPS THIS AFTN IT WILL MOST LIKELY BE ACROSS EXTREME
S OR E CWA WHERE BEST HEATING AND TOPOGRAPHY MAY HELP TO POP
TSTM'S. PW'S VALUES INDICATE POTENTIAL FOR LOCALLY HVY DOWNPOURS.

SHOWERS AND TSTMS ENDING ACROSS W PA BY MIDNIGHT AND ACROSS E PA
DURING THE EARLY MORNING HRS. MODELS THEN BRING A SLUG OF DRY AIR
INTO FCST/A ON TUES. MAY START OUT WITH SOME AM CLDS AND VALLEY
FOG BUT SHOULD BECOME MOSTLY SUNNY BY AFTN.

TUESDAY NIGHT...5H TROF DEEPENS OVER AREA. LOW LEVEL MOISTURE
(COMBINATION OF NW FLOW FROM ERI AND MOISTURE UNDER SUBSIDENCE
INVERSION) SLIDES SOUTH INTO AREA TUE EVE. MAY WANT TO MENTION
MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES N PA AND PTLY CLOUDY SOUTH. WOULD NOT BE
SURPRISED TO SEE A FEW SHOWERS (30 POPS) OVER N PA LATE TUE
NIGHT.

WEDNESDAY...UPPER LEVEL COLD LOW JUST N OF FCST/A WILL KEEP MUCH
OF N PA IN THE CLOUDY COOL WEATHER. COLD TEMPS ALOFT WILL PRODUCE
SOME AFTN INSTABILITY SO A MENTION OF SHOWERS (30 POPS) MAY BE
PRUDENT ACROSSA N PA. LOWER SUS SHOULD SEE PTLY TO MOSTLY SUNNY
SKIES.

ENJOY!

WINTHER

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 18, 9:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPSomerset60 min
May 19, 4:36 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPWarren69 min
May 19, 6:23 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPClearfield, Elk67 min
May 19, 6:31 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCameron29 min
May 19, 6:34 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPClinton56 min
May 19, 6:40 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCentre65 min
May 19, 6:47 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCambria58 min
May 19, 7:04 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPLycoming56 min
May 19, 7:29 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPBlair61 min
May 19, 7:41 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPSullivan64 min
May 19, 7:41 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPMontour, Northumberland, Union64 min
May 19, 7:46 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPHuntingdon, Mifflin59 min
May 19, 7:50 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPJuniata, Snyder55 min
May 19, 7:56 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPColumbia64 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.