Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 96, NWS Pittsburgh, PA
NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 16, 1997, 12:08 PM EDT for Venango 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
- Aug 16, 1997, 12:08 PM EDT (16:08 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 16, 1997, 1:15 PM EDT
- In force
- 67 min
- Issued by
- NWS Pittsburgh, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Venango County, PA
The radar
The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 104 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:11 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 16, 12:20 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Polk, PA | Several trees were downed by thunderstorm winds in Venango County, mainly in the western part of the county. |
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 16, 11:00 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 4.1 hours before the alert went out and 114 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
- 2423 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -12 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 591 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 17 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 111 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 99 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.2
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, Aug 16, 11:03 AM EDT, 1 hour 5 minutes before
PAZ004>019-162100- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 1103 AM EDT SAT AUG 16 1997 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH TIL 5 PM FOR THE NORTHERN HALF OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL 5 PM FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES... IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA... WARREN VENANGO CLINTON JEFFERSON MCKEAN FOREST LAWRENCE CLEARFIELD POTTER ELK BUTLER CENTRE MERCER CAMERON CLARION IN THE WATCH AREA THUNDERSTORMS WITH DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...LOCALLY HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING STRIKES ARE POSSIBLE. SKYWARN/HAM RADIO ACTIVATION IS LIKELY. THIS IS A DANGEROUS SITUATION. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND OTHER MEDIA SOURCES FOR POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
Special weather statement, Aug 16, 11:04 AM EDT, 1 hour 4 minutes before
PAZ004>019-162100- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 1103 AM EDT SAT AUG 16 1997 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH TIL 5 PM FOR THE NORTHERN HALF OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL 5 PM FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES... IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA... WARREN VENANGO CLINTON JEFFERSON MCKEAN FOREST LAWRENCE CLEARFIELD POTTER ELK BUTLER CENTRE MERCER CAMERON CLARION IN THE WATCH AREA THUNDERSTORMS WITH DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...LOCALLY HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING STRIKES ARE POSSIBLE. SKYWARN/HAM RADIO ACTIVATION IS LIKELY. THIS IS A DANGEROUS SITUATION. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND OTHER MEDIA SOURCES FOR POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 16, 3:23 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Beaver, Lawrence | 52 min |
| Aug 16, 3:41 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Butler | 49 min |
| Aug 16, 11:39 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Mercer | 66 min |
| Aug 16, 12:10 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Lawrence | 65 min |
| Aug 16, 12:35 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Clarion | 55 min |
| Aug 16, 12:37 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Forest | 68 min |
| Aug 16, 12:40 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Butler | 65 min |
| Aug 16, 12:46 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Armstrong | 29 min |
| Aug 16, 12:48 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Jefferson | 57 min |
| Aug 16, 1:38 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Jefferson | 52 min |
| Aug 16, 5:03 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Mercer | 57 min |
| Aug 16, 5:18 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | PBZ | Mercer | 57 min |
| Aug 16, 5:46 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Venango | 59 min |
| Aug 16, 6:00 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | PBZ | Mercer | 60 min |
| Aug 16, 6:13 PM EDT | Flash Flood Warning | PBZ | Mercer | 4 hr |
| Aug 16, 6:32 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Butler, Venango | 58 min |
| Aug 16, 6:40 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Lawrence | 65 min |
| Aug 16, 7:03 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Mercer | 57 min |
| Aug 16, 7:03 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Armstrong | 57 min |
| Aug 16, 7:08 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Clarion, Jefferson | 67 min |
| Aug 16, 7:35 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Butler, Lawrence | 55 min |
| Aug 16, 7:42 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Beaver | 63 min |
| Aug 16, 2:23 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Columbiana | 52 min |
| Aug 16, 4:38 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Coshocton | 67 min |
| Aug 16, 7:22 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Columbiana | 68 min |
| Aug 16, 7:51 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Carroll | 69 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.