Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 14, NWS State College, PA

August 17, 1997Franklin County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at Aug 17, 1997, 5:40 PM EDT for Franklin County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 50 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 17, 1997, 5:40 PM EDT (21:40 UTC)
Expired: Aug 17, 1997, 6:30 PM EDT
In force: 50 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 21:36 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 17, 6:15 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 51	Mercersburg, PA	Tree limbs and powerlines down in Mercersburg and Waynesboro.

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 17, 4:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 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.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 129 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -282 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1590 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 37 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 172142 RRA
TORCTP
PAC055-172230-

BULLETIN- EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
540 PM EDT SUN AUG 17 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 630 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA

   ...SOUTHERN FRANKLIN COUNTY
 
AT 539 PM EDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY STATE COLLEGE
DOPPLER RADAR 28 MILES WEST OF CHAMBERSBURG OR 7 MILES NORTHWEST OF
SYLVAN MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

THE STORM CONTAINING THE TORNADO WILL PASS NEAR...
SYLVAN                            BY 555 PM EDT
COVE GAP                          BY 610 PM EDT
MERCERSBURG                       BY 615 PM EDT
WELSH RUN                         BY 620 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

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 16, 8:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Clearfield	64 min
Aug 16, 8:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Centre	60 min
Aug 16, 8:57 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Centre	53 min
Aug 16, 9:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Schuylkill	61 min
Aug 16, 9:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Schuylkill	22 min
Aug 16, 10:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Mifflin	50 min
Aug 16, 10:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Lancaster	61 min
Aug 16, 11:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Columbia, Montour	64 min
Aug 17, 4:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Bedford, Somerset	60 min
Aug 17, 5:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Fulton	58 min
Aug 17, 5:25 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CTP	Bedford, Fulton	35 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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.