Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 2, NWS Pittsburgh, PA
NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this tornado warning at Aug 16, 1997, 6:00 PM EDT for Mercer County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 60 min. 4 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
- Aug 16, 1997, 6:00 PM EDT (22:00 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 16, 1997, 7:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 60 min
- Issued by
- NWS Pittsburgh, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Mercer County, PA
The radar
The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:59 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, 6:00 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Grove City, PA | Thunderstorm winds downed trees. |
| Aug 16, 6:04 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Greenville, PA | Thunderstorm winds downed trees. |
| Aug 16, 6:10 PM EDT | Hail 0.75 | Mercer, PA | |
| Aug 16, 6:40 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Sharon, PA | Thunderstorm winds caused substantial damage to the roof 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 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, 4:15 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 100 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
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KPIT 162159 RRA TORPIT PAC085-162300- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 600 PM EDT SAT AUG 16 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 700 PM EDT FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA ...MERCER COUNTY A TORNADO TOUCHDOWN WAS REPORTED ON THE OHIO-PENNSYLVANIA LINE WEST OF GREENVILLE AT 555 PM. THE TOUCHDOWN MAY HAVE BEEN VERY BRIEF AND WE CANNOT CONFIRM THAT THE TORNADO IS STILL ON THE GROUND. THE STORM IS MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...LIE DOWN IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.
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, 12:08 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Venango | 67 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, 6:13 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 |
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.