Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 53, NWS Pittsburgh, PA
NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 18, 1997, 2:48 PM EDT for Washington County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 57 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
- Jul 18, 1997, 2:48 PM EDT (18:48 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 18, 1997, 3:45 PM EDT
- In force
- 57 min
- Issued by
- NWS Pittsburgh, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Washington County, PA
The radar
The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 38 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:48 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 18, 3:00 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Claysville, PA | Thunderstorm winds downed a few billboards and numerous pine trees between Claysville and Washington. |
| Jul 18, 3:03 PM EDT | Hail 0.88 | Washington, PA | |
| Jul 18, 3:10 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Claysville, PA | Thunderstorm winds blew a roof off of a house. |
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 nearest sounding before it
Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 28 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
- 582 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -80 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1058 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 13 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 2 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -10 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
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
Special weather statement, Jul 18, 2:14 PM EDT, 34 minutes before
PAZ007>009-013>016-022-190000- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 215 PM EDT FRI JUL 18 1997 ...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH SAYS... A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM TONIGHT FOR THESE COUNTIES NORTH OF PITTSBURGH IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA... ARMSTRONG BUTLER CLARION FOREST JEFFERSON LAWRENCE MERCER VENANGO. DAMAGING WIND AND HAIL ARE POSSIBLE UNTIL 8 PM TONIGHT. OTHER THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER EAST CENTRAL OHIO ARE MOVING INTO THE NORTHERN PANHANDLE OF WEST VIRGINIA AND SOUTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA. UP TO AN INCH AND A HALF OF RAIN IS POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS. AS A COLD FRONT PRESSES SOUTHWARD THIS EVENING...THE RAIN WILL BE PUSHED FURTHER SOUTH...WITH ALL THE RAIN ENDING BY MIDNIGHT.
Special weather statement, Jul 18, 2:15 PM EDT, 33 minutes before
PAZ007>009-013>016-022-190000- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 215 PM EDT FRI JUL 18 1997 ...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH SAYS... A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM TONIGHT FOR THESE COUNTIES NORTH OF PITTSBURGH IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA... ARMSTRONG BUTLER CLARION FOREST JEFFERSON LAWRENCE MERCER VENANGO. DAMAGING WIND AND HAIL ARE POSSIBLE UNTIL 8 PM TONIGHT. OTHER THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER EAST CENTRAL OHIO ARE MOVING INTO THE NORTHERN PANHANDLE OF WEST VIRGINIA AND SOUTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA. UP TO AN INCH AND A HALF OF RAIN IS POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS. AS A COLD FRONT PRESSES SOUTHWARD THIS EVENING...THE RAIN WILL BE PUSHED FURTHER SOUTH...WITH ALL THE RAIN ENDING BY MIDNIGHT.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 18, 2:58 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Allegheny | 62 min |
| Jul 18, 3:15 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Westmoreland | 60 min |
| Jul 18, 7:17 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Armstrong | 58 min |
| Jul 18, 7:19 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Allegheny | 56 min |
| Jul 18, 7:29 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Indiana | 46 min |
| Jul 18, 7:40 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Westmoreland | 50 min |
| Jul 18, 7:56 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Beaver, Washington | 49 min |
| Jul 18, 5:55 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Guernsey | 65 min |
| Jul 18, 7:24 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Columbiana | 51 min |
| Jul 18, 7:51 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Jefferson | 54 min |
| Jul 18, 2:32 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Brooke | 58 min |
| Jul 18, 6:13 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Preston | 62 min |
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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.