Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Binghamton, NY

May 31, 1998Pike County, Pennsylvania

NWS Binghamton, NY issued this tornado warning at May 31, 1998, 9:31 PM EDT for Pike County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 89 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 31, 1998, 9:31 PM EDT (01:31 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1998, 11:00 PM EDT
In force: 89 min
Issued by: NWS Binghamton, NY
Area: Whole counties

County Pike County, PA

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 31, 9:50 PM EDT	Tornado F0	Greentown, PA	A severe thunderstorm briefly produced a tornado over southwestern portions of the county late in the evening. An F0 tornado touched down over Greentown around 9:50 pm EDT. The twister toppled trees and sheared off some tree tops just east of route 447.

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 31, 5:00 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Brookhaven, NY (KOKX), launched 00:00Z, 1.5 hours before the alert went out and 189 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: 151 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -348 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1224 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 233 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 319 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.

158 
WFUS1 KBGM 010133 RRA
TORBGM
PAC103-010300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BINGHAMTON NY
931 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BINGHAMTON HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  PIKE COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 1100 PM EDT

* AT 920 PM EDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  AND A SKYWARN SPOTTER REPORTED A TORNADO JUST EAST OF GREENTOWN IN
  WEST CENTRAL PIKE COUNTY...   MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  PECKS POND AT 940 PM EDT
  TOWN OF DINGMAN AT 955 PM EDT
  MILFORD AT 1005 PM EDT
  MATAMORAS AT 1020 PM EDT

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR

CHAMPNEY

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE IN
THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE... GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR. AVOID WINDOWS AND DOORS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR
A STURDIER BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

&

The office that day

Everything else NWS Binghamton, NY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 8:04 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BGM	Pike, Wayne	66 min
May 31, 8:07 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BGM	Bradford	63 min
May 31, 8:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BGM	Susquehanna	65 min
May 31, 8:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BGM	Wayne	66 min
May 31, 9:06 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BGM	Wyoming	64 min
May 31, 9:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BGM	Susquehanna	61 min
May 31, 9:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BGM	Lackawanna	63 min
May 31, 9:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BGM	Wayne	62 min
May 31, 9:56 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BGM	Wayne	64 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes in 1998

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.