Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 15, NWS Cleveland, OH

May 31, 1998Erie County, Pennsylvania

NWS Cleveland, OH issued this tornado warning at May 31, 1998, 4:42 PM EDT for Erie County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 48 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: May 31, 1998, 4:42 PM EDT (20:42 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1998, 5:30 PM EDT
In force: 48 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 20:42 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
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
May 31, 5:23 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Erie, PA	Large hail fell approximately four miles south of the city of Erie.

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, 8.7 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.

094 
WFUS1 KCLE 312044 RRA
TORCLE
PAC049-PAZ520-312130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
442 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CLEVELAND HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 530 PM EDT

* AT 445 PM EDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR CONNEAUT IN NORTHEAST OHIO. THIS STORM WAS
  MOVING EAST AND WILL ENTER ERIE COUNTY WEST OF LAKE CITY. DOPPLER
  RADAR ALSO INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO DEVELOPING NEAR EDINBORO.
  ALSO...A POSSIBLE TORNADO TOUCHDOWN WAS REPORTERD IN CONNEAUT BY
  POLICE.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  LAKE CITY
  WEST SPRINGFIELD
  EDINBORO

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

&
GABRIC

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, 4:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CLE	Erie	64 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

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.