Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 39, NWS Pittsburgh, PA

May 19, 1997Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania

NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 19, 1997, 6:46 PM EDT for Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 3 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 19, 1997, 6:46 PM EDT (22:46 UTC)
Expired
May 19, 1997, 9:45 PM EDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Pittsburgh, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Westmoreland County, PA

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 68 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:49 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 19, 5:15 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 55 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 1997-05-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 10 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 1997-05-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 77 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
10 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-92 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
626 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
77 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
140 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 19, 5:32 PM EDT, 1 hour 14 minutes before
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH, PA
532 PM EDT MON MAY 19 1997

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0527 PM    SEWICKLEY HEIGHTS         PA   WIND GUST 66 MPH.
05/19/97   ALLEGHENY
Local storm report, May 19, 5:33 PM EDT, 1 hour 13 minutes before
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH, PA
532 PM EDT MON MAY 19 1997

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0527 PM    SEWICKLEY HEIGHTS         PA   WIND GUST 66 MPH.
05/19/97   ALLEGHENY
Local storm report, May 19, 6:13 PM EDT, 33 minutes before
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
613 PM EDT MON MAY 19 1997

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0559 PM    NEW KENSINGTON            PA   WIND DAMAGE
05/19/97   WESTMORELAND                   NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES
                                          BLOWN DOWN.

0556 PM    MC CANDLESS TWP           PA   WIND DAMAGE
05/19/97   ALLEGHENY                      TREES DOWN SEVERAL LOCATIONS
                                          SUCH AS NORTH PARK.

0606 PM    OAKMONT                   PA   0.75 INCH HAIL
05/19/97   ALLEGHENY
Local storm report, May 19, 6:16 PM EDT, 30 minutes before
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
613 PM EDT MON MAY 19 1997

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0559 PM    NEW KENSINGTON            PA   WIND DAMAGE
05/19/97   WESTMORELAND                   NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES
                                          BLOWN DOWN.

0556 PM    MC CANDLESS TWP           PA   WIND DAMAGE
05/19/97   ALLEGHENY               l       TREES DOWN SEVERAL LOCATIONS
                                          SUCH AS NORTH PARK.

0606 PM    OAKMONT                   PA   0.75 INCH HAIL
05/19/97   ALLEGHENY
Local storm report, May 19, 6:17 PM EDT, 29 minutes before
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
618 PM EDT MON MAY 19 1997

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0614 PM    WHEELING     r             WV   WIND DAMAGE
05/19/97   OHIO                           TREES DOWN AND WINDOWS BLOWN OUT.
Local storm report, May 19, 6:18 PM EDT, 28 minutes before
STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
618 PM EDT MON MAY 19 1997

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0614 PM    WHEELING                  WV   WIND DAMAGE
05/19/97   OHIO                           TREES DOWN AND WINDOWS BLOWN OUT.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 18, 8:33 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZAllegheny, Washington27 min
May 18, 9:19 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZFayette, Greene41 min
May 18, 11:26 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZMercer64 min
May 19, 12:06 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZVenango69 min
May 19, 12:36 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZMercer69 min
May 19, 5:19 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZBeaver26 min
May 19, 5:24 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZAllegheny51 min
May 19, 5:56 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZWestmoreland49 min
May 19, 6:19 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZArmstrong, Indiana41 min
May 19, 6:21 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZWashington54 min
May 19, 6:37 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningPBZAllegheny53 min
May 19, 6:37 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZAllegheny53 min
May 19, 6:40 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningPBZWashington3 hr
May 19, 6:46 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningPBZWestmoreland3 hr
May 19, 6:57 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZIndiana33 min
May 19, 7:07 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZFayette68 min
May 19, 7:36 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningPBZAllegheny2 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1997Every severe thunderstorm warning 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.