Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 10, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at Aug 15, 1997, 6:41 PM EDT for Blair County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 49 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 15, 1997, 6:41 PM EDT (22:41 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 15, 1997, 7:30 PM EDT
- In force
- 49 min
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Blair County, PA
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 15, 7:05 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 51 | Tyrone, PA | Trees and wires down between Tyrone and Tipton. |
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, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 148 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
- 1167 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 43 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 135 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 161 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 152243 RRA TORCTP PAC013-152330- BULLETIN- EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 641 PM EDT FRI AUG 15 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 730 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA ...NORTHERN BLAIR COUNTY AT 640 PM EDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY STATE COLLEGE DOPPLER RADAR 10 MILES WEST OF TYRONE OR 6 MILES NORTHWEST OF BELLWOOD MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH. THE STORM CONTAINING THE TORNADO WILL PASS NEAR... BELLWOOD BY 650 PM EDT TIPTON BY 655 PM EDT BLAND PARK BY 655 PM EDT TYRONE BY 705 PM EDT BALD EAGLE BY 710 PM EDT IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IN A HOME OR BUSINESS IS AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWSb. JUNG
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado 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 tornado warning went out at Aug 15, 2:34 PM EDT, 4 hours 7 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 15, 2:34 PM EDT, 4 hours 7 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 230 PM EDT FRI AUG 15 1997 ...ZONES SUGGESTIONS... NONE. ...DISCUSSION... SAT WV PIX SHOW STRONG VORT MAX ASSOC WITH OCCLUDED LOW MOVING THROUGH UPPER LAKES ATTM. COMPOSITE RADAR PIX NICELY SHOWS OCCLUDED STRUCTURE OF THIS SYSTEM WITH TRIPLE POINT OVER S MICHIGAN. SFC MAP SHOWS WARM FRONT ADVANCING INTO SW PA. FIRST BATCH OF RAIN ASSOC W/ISENTROPIC LIFT NOW MOVING THRU CTP CWA WITH SECOND AREA OF PRECIP OVER W OHIO. SOME EMBEDDED TSRA IN THIS SECOND BATCH WHICH SHOULD MOVE INTO WESTERN CTP CWA AFTER 21Z. LDS SHOWED A LONE LIGHTNING STRIKE LAST HOUR IN WARM SECTOR IN FAR SW PA. LATEST SAT PIX AT 1745 SHOWING CELL FIRING UP IN S OHIO. THIS IS THE JUICY AIR THAT WILL GET HERE OVERNIGHT. A LOOK AT MODEL SOUNDINGS FROM UNV AND MDT INDICATES THAT WITH PLENTY OF SUN TOMORROW AFT...LATE DAY THUNDERSTORMS CAN GET GOING. WINDEX EVEN SUGGESTS POTENTIAL DAMAGING WINDS...BUT STRENGTH OF UPR LEVEL RIDGING MAY BE AN INHIBITING FACTOR. BELIEVE THE NEXT REAL THREAT FOR SVR WILL BE SUNDAY AFT ACROSS NORTHERN PA AS STRONG COLD FRNT SAGS SOUTH INTO VERY WARM MOIST AIR MASS. OSTUNO
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Aug 15, 4:39 PM EDT, 2 hours 2 minutes before
PAZ056-057-059-063>066-160230- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT - HOT WEATHER NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 439 PM EDT FRI AUG 15 1997 ...HOT WEATHER WILL RETURN TO THE LOWER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY THIS WEEKEND... ...FORECAST DETAILS... A WARM FRONT WILL LIFT NORHTWARD THROUGH PENNSYLVANIA TONIGHT...AND ALLOW VERY WARM AND HUMID AIR TO OVERSPREAD THE REGION THIS WEEKEND. HIGH TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE LOWER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY WILL REACH 90 DEGREES SATURDAY...AND THE MIDDLE 90S ON SUNDAY. THESE HOT TEMPERATURES...COMBINED WITH HIGH HUMIDITIES WILL PRODUCE HEAT INDEX VALUES AROUND 100 DEGREES SATURDAY...AND 100 TO 105 DEGREES ON SUNDAY. ...PRECAUTIONS... DURING TIMES OF HOT WEATHER...WEAR LIGHTWEIGHT...LIGHT COLORED CLOTHING SINCE IT REFLECTS HEAT AND SUNLIGHT AND HELPS YOUR BODY STAY COOLER. YOU SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION AND BE AWARE THAT THOSE MOST SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE HEAT INCLUDE THE ELDERLY...SMALL CHILDREN... THOSE IN POOR HEALTH...AND ANYONE WHO WORKS OR PLAYS OUTDOORS FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME. ...ADDITIONAL INFORMATION... OFFICIAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECASTS...STATEMENTS... WATCHES...WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES FOR PENNSYLVANIA CAN BE FOUND ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS: HTTP://IWIN.NWS.NOAA/GOV/IWIN/PA/PA.HTML OR 140.90.6.254/IWIN/PA/PA.HTML JUNG
Special weather statement, Aug 15, 4:41 PM EDT, 2 hours before
PAZ056-057-059-063>066-160230- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT - HOT WEATHER NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 439 PM EDT FRI AUG 15 1997 ...HOT WEATHER WILL RETURN TO THE LOWER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY THIS WEEKEND... ...FORECAST DETAILS... A WARM FRONT WILL LIFT NORHTWARD THROUGH PENNSYLVANIA TONIGHT...AND ALLOW VERY WARM AND HUMID AIR TO OVERSPREAD THE REGION THIS WEEKEND. HIGH TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE LOWER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY WILL REACH 90 DEGREES SATURDAY...AND THE MIDDLE 90S ON SUNDAY. THESE HOT TEMPERATURES...COMBINED WITH HIGH HUMIDITIES WILL PRODUCE HEAT INDEX VALUES AROUND 100 DEGREES SATURDAY...AND 100 TO 105 DEGREES ON SUNDAY. ...PRECAUTIONS... DURING TIMES OF HOT WEATHER...WEAR LIGHTWEIGHT...LIGHT COLORED CLOTHING SINCE IT REFLECTS HEAT AND SUNLIGHT AND HELPS YOUR BODY STAY COOLER. YOU SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION AND BE AWARE THAT THOSE MOST SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE HEAT INCLUDE THE ELDERLY...SMALL CHILDREN... THOSE IN POOR HEALTH...AND ANYONE WHO WORKS OR PLAYS OUTDOORS FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME. ...ADDITIONAL INFORMATION... OFFICIAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECASTS...STATEMENTS... WATCHES...WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES FOR PENNSYLVANIA CAN BE FOUND ON THE WORLD W IDE WEB AT THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS: HTTP://IWIN.NWS.NOAA/GOV/IWIN/PA/PA.HTML OR 140.90.6.254/IWIN/PA/PA.HTML JUNG
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 15, 6:20 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Cambria | 40 min |
| Aug 15, 7:00 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CTP | Centre | 65 min |
| Aug 15, 7:08 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Huntingdon | 47 min |
| Aug 15, 7:31 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Mifflin | 49 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.