Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 11, NWS State College, PA

August 15, 1997Centre County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at Aug 15, 1997, 7:00 PM EDT for Centre County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 65 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
Aug 15, 1997, 7:00 PM EDT (23:00 UTC)
Expired
Aug 15, 1997, 8:05 PM EDT
In force
65 min
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Centre County, PA

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 200 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1997-08-15Temperature 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1997-08-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 135 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCTP 152302 RRA
TORCTP
PAC027-160005-

BULLETIN- EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
700 PM EDT FRI AUG 15 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 805 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA

   ...CENTRE COUNTY
 
AT 659 PM EDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY
DOPPLER RADAR 25 MILES WEST OF STATE COLLEGE OR 7 MILES SOUTHWEST
OF SANDY RIDGE MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

THE STORM CONTAINING THE TORNADO WILL PASS NEAR...
SANDY RIDGE                       BY 710 PM EDT
PORT MATILDA                      BY 735 PM EDT
BLACK MOSHANNON STATE PARK        BY 735 PM EDT
STORMSTOWN                        BY 735 PM EDT
GATESBURG                         BY 740 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
WINDOWS.

LA CORTE/JUNG

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 15, 6:20 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCambria40 min
Aug 15, 6:41 PM EDTTornado WarningCTPBlair49 min
Aug 15, 7:08 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPHuntingdon47 min
Aug 15, 7:31 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPMifflin49 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.