Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 40, NWS Pittsburgh, PA

May 19, 1997Indiana County, Pennsylvania

NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 19, 1997, 6:57 PM EDT for Indiana County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 33 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: May 19, 1997, 6:57 PM EDT (22:57 UTC)
Expired: May 19, 1997, 7:30 PM EDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Pittsburgh, PA
Area: Whole counties

County Indiana County, PA

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 19, 7:00 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Nowrytown, PA	A tree and some large branches were downed by thunderstorm winds.

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
May 19, 5:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 90 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: 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

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

302 
WUUS1 KPIT 192257 RRA
SVRPIT
PAC063-192330-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
657 PM EDT MON MAY 19 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS EXTENDED THE
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  730 PM EDT
FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST PENNSYLVANIA
 
   ...INDIANA COUNTY
 
AT 655 PM WEATHER RADAR CONTINUED TO SHOW A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM JUST
EAST OF HOMER CITY NEAR BRUSH VALLEY. THIS STORM IS MOVING EAST AT 40
MPH. DAMAGING WINDS ARE STILL ASSOCIATED WITH THIS STORM.
 
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND OVER 55 MPH...DESTRUCTIVE
HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. FOR YOUR PROTECTION
MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR BUILDING.  HEAVY
RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO DO NOT DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER
COVERS THE ROAD.

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 25 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 24 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, 44 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, 41 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, 40 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, 39 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 18, 8:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Allegheny, Washington	27 min
May 18, 9:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Fayette, Greene	41 min
May 18, 11:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Mercer	64 min
May 19, 12:06 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Venango	69 min
May 19, 12:36 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Mercer	69 min
May 19, 5:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Beaver	26 min
May 19, 5:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Allegheny	51 min
May 19, 5:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Westmoreland	49 min
May 19, 6:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Armstrong, Indiana	41 min
May 19, 6:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Washington	54 min
May 19, 6:37 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	PBZ	Allegheny	53 min
May 19, 6:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Allegheny	53 min
May 19, 6:40 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	PBZ	Washington	3 hr
May 19, 6:46 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	PBZ	Westmoreland	3 hr
May 19, 6:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Westmoreland	3 hr
May 19, 7:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Fayette	68 min
May 19, 7:36 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	PBZ	Allegheny	2 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1997 Every 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.