Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Cleveland, OH

May 31, 1998Crawford County, Pennsylvania

NWS Cleveland, OH issued this tornado warning at May 31, 1998, 12:35 PM EDT for Crawford County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 50 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, 12:35 PM EDT (16:35 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1998, 1:25 PM EDT
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Cleveland, OH
Area: Whole counties

County Crawford County, PA

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 31, 12:55 PM EDT	Hail 1.75	Cambridge Spgs, 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, 10:30 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 4.6 hours before the alert went out and 142 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.

791 
WFUS1 KCLE 311636 RRA
TORCLE
PAC039-311725-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
1235 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CLEVELAND HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CRAWFORD COUNTY PA IN NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 125 PM EDT

* AT 1235 PM EDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO 8 MILES NORTH OF MEADVILLE MOVING EAST AT 55 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL MOVE NEAR...
  CENTERVILLE
  SPARTANSBURG


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

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

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.