Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 75, NWS Cleveland, OH

May 31, 1998Erie County, Pennsylvania

NWS Cleveland, OH issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1998, 4:01 PM EDT for Erie County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 64 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: May 31, 1998, 4:01 PM EDT (20:01 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1998, 5:05 PM EDT
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS Cleveland, OH
Area: Whole counties

County Erie County, PA

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 145 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:01 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
May 31, 4:45 PM EDT	Hail 1	Albion, PA
May 31, 4:46 PM EDT	Hail 1	West Springfield, PA
May 31, 5:13 PM EDT	Hail 1	Fairview, PA

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, 3:30 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 190 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: 1035 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -145 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1038 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 198 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 281 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 4.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

834 
WUUS1 KCLE 312003 RRA
SVRCLE
PAC049-PAZ520-312105-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION/IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
401 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CLEVELAND HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  ERIE COUNTY PA INCLUDING ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS IN NORTHWESTERN
  PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 505 PM EDT

* AT 359 PM EDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 20 MILES NORTHEAST OF JEFFERSON OR 7 MILES WEST
  OF CRANESVILLE MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL MOVE NEAR...
  FRANKLIN CENTER
  EDINBORO
  UNION CITY

.SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH
LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING AND STAY
AWAY FROM WINDOWS

GABRIC

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 31, 12:00 PM EDT, 4 hours 1 minute before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NWSFO CLEVELAND OHIO
1200 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1150 AM    MADISON                   OH   .88 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   LAKE

WOODWORTH

Local storm report, May 31, 12:29 PM EDT, 3 hours 32 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NWSFO CLEVELAND OHIO
1229 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1228 PM    SPRINGBORO                PA   1 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   CRAWFORD

Local storm report, May 31, 12:42 PM EDT, 3 hours 19 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NWSFO CLEVELAND OHIO
1242 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1239 PM    EDINBORO                  PA   1 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   ERIE

Local storm report, May 31, 12:58 PM EDT, 3 hours 3 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NWSFO CLEVELAND OHIO
1258 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1255 PM    CAMBRIDGE SPGS            PA   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   CRAWFORD

Local storm report, May 31, 3:58 PM EDT, 3 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NWSFO CLEVELAND OHIO
358 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0349 PM    FINDLAY                   OH   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   HANCOCK

0353 PM    EUCLID                    OH   .88 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   CUYAHOGA

0355 PM    WICKLIFFE                 OH   .88 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   LAKE

Local storm report, May 31, 3:58 PM EDT, 3 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NWSFO CLEVELAND OHIO
358 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0349 PM    FINDLAY                   OH   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   HANCOCK

0353 PM    EUCLID                    OH   .88 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   CUYAHOGA

0355 PM    WICKLIFFE                 OH   .88 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   LAKE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Cleveland, OH issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 11:34 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CLE	Erie	46 min
May 31, 12:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CLE	Crawford	48 min
May 31, 12:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CLE	Erie	49 min
May 31, 12:35 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CLE	Crawford	50 min
May 31, 4:42 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CLE	Erie	48 min
May 31, 5:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CLE	Erie	63 min
May 31, 5:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CLE	Crawford	63 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1998 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.