Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 2, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at Jun 18, 1997, 5:38 PM EDT for Franklin County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 67 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
- Jun 18, 1997, 5:38 PM EDT (21:38 UTC)
- Expired
- Jun 18, 1997, 6:45 PM EDT
- In force
- 67 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 21:40 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 18, 6:00 PM EDT | Hail 0.75 | Greencastle, PA | 3/4 inch hail was reported in the Greencastle area. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 18, 5:30 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 9.6 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 392 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -95 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 671 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 156 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 219 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCTP 182138 RRA TORCTP PAC055-182245- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 538 PM EDT WED JUN 18 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 645 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...... IN PENNSYLVANIA ...FRANKLIN COUNTY AT 530 PM A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS OVER THE SYLVAN AREA OF SOUTHWESTERN FRANKLIN COUNTY. RADAR SUGGESTS THAT THIS STORM COULD BE PRODUCING A TORNADO IN THE SYLVAN AREA. THIS STORM WILL REACH THE ROUTE 30 WEST OF CHAMBERSBURG BY BETWEEN 545 AND 6 PM. THE STORM SHOULD REACH THE WILLOW RUN AREA...NEAR THE TURNPIKE...BEFORE 630 PM. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS. HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAzS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD. GRUMM
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 18, 2:07 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Clearfield, Elk | 68 min |
| Jun 18, 2:40 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Cameron | 65 min |
| Jun 18, 3:07 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Centre, Clinton | 68 min |
| Jun 18, 3:27 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Clearfield | 48 min |
| Jun 18, 3:58 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Bedford | 62 min |
| Jun 18, 4:21 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Centre | 69 min |
| Jun 18, 5:01 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Bedford, Fulton | 59 min |
| Jun 18, 5:09 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Centre, Clearfield | 3 hr |
| Jun 18, 5:14 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | McKean, Potter | 61 min |
| Jun 18, 5:48 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Blair, Huntingdon | 57 min |
| Jun 18, 6:18 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CTP | Juniata | 42 min |
| Jun 18, 7:24 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Adams | 51 min |
| Jun 18, 7:41 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | CTP | Franklin | 3 hr |
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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.