Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 12, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at Aug 16, 1997, 2:56 PM EDT for Sullivan County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 49 min. 3 reports 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 16, 1997, 2:56 PM EDT (18:56 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 16, 1997, 3:45 PM EDT
- In force
- 49 min
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Sullivan County, PA
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 16, 3:00 PM EDT | Tornado F1 | Eagles Mere, PA | 41/24/39N, 76/40/51W to 41/25N, 76/35W. Woman age 45 was injured by falling tree while hiking near High Knob in Wyoming State Forest. |
| Aug 16, 3:05 PM EDT | Tornado F1 | Eagles Mere, PA | 41/24N, 76/37W to 41/24N, 76/35W. A large area of downburst winds struck sections of Sullivan County from Hillsgrove east across Eagles Mere to Laporte and Dushore. While most of the damage was straight line wind, at least two locations in the Eagles Mere ar |
| Aug 16, 3:10 PM EDT | Tornado F1 | Nordmont, PA | 41/20/13N, 76/19/37W to 41/20/06N, 76/18/43W. The Ricketts Glen tornado was another example of tornadic winds embedded within a wider area of downburst damage. Downburst damage covered an area of about 3 miles wide from Ganoga Lake southeast to Lake Jean. A |
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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 16, 11:00 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 244 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
- 518 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -21 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 740 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 37 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 126 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 187 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.2
- Supercell composite
- 2.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCTP 161858 RRA TORCTP PAC113-161945- BULLETIN- EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 256 PM EDT SAT AUG 16 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 345 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA ...SULLIVAN COUNTY AT 255 PM EDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY STATE COLLEGE DOPPLER RADAR 9 MILES WEST OF LAPORTE OR 5 MILES WEST OF EAGLES MERE MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH. THE STORM CONTAINING THE TORNADO WILL PASS NEAR... FORKSVILLE BY 300 PM EDT MUNCY VALLEY BY 300 PM EDT EAGLES MERE BY 300 PM EDT LAPORTE BY 305 PM EDT DUSHORE BY 315 PM EDT MILDRED BY 315 PM EDT LOPEZ BY 320 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. JUNG/NICOSIA
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 16, 11:32 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Warren | 58 min |
| Aug 16, 12:26 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | McKean, Warren | 59 min |
| Aug 16, 12:43 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Elk | 62 min |
| Aug 16, 1:12 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Cameron, Potter | 58 min |
| Aug 16, 1:26 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Clearfield | 59 min |
| Aug 16, 1:43 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Clinton | 62 min |
| Aug 16, 1:43 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Tioga | 62 min |
| Aug 16, 2:01 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Lycoming | 64 min |
| Aug 16, 2:10 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Centre | 60 min |
| Aug 16, 2:17 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Clinton | 63 min |
| Aug 16, 2:24 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Clearfield | 31 min |
| Aug 16, 2:41 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Sullivan | 64 min |
| Aug 16, 3:04 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Columbia, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland | 61 min |
| Aug 16, 3:04 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Clinton, Union | 61 min |
| Aug 16, 3:22 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Northumberland, Snyder | 63 min |
| Aug 16, 3:22 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Columbia | 63 min |
| Aug 16, 3:58 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Schuylkill | 62 min |
| Aug 16, 7:14 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | McKean | 61 min |
| Aug 16, 7:36 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Potter | 64 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.