Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 89, NWS State College, PA

June 13, 1998Somerset County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 13, 1998, 11:16 AM EDT for Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 59 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
Jun 13, 1998, 11:16 AM EDT (15:16 UTC)
Expired
Jun 13, 1998, 12:15 PM EDT
In force
59 min
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Somerset County, PA

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 119 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:20 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jun 13, 11:50 AM EDTHail 0.88Hooversville, 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 nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 3.3 hours before the alert went out and 103 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1998-06-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 10 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1998-06-13The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 223 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
10 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-168 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
500 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
223 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
195 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.

531 
WUUS01 KCTP 131517 RRA
SVRCTP
PAC111-131615-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1116 AM EDT SAT JUN 13 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SOMERSET COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 1215 PM EDT

* AT 1112 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WESTERN SOMERSET COUNTY...MOVING NORTHEAST
  AT 25 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  JENNERSTOWN AT 1130 AM EDT
  JEROME AT 1140 AM EDT

DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE LIKELY. GO INSIDE A STURDY
BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS

ONDREJIK

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...
DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.  FOR YOUR
PROTECTION MOVE INDOORS AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.  HEAVY RAINS
FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY.  DONT DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE
ROAD.

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.

NWS State College, PA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jun 13, 9:45 AM EDT, 1 hour 31 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 13, 9:45 AM EDT, 1 hour 31 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
945 AM EDT SAT JUN 13 1998

WORK ZONES SENT TO PIT AND PHL AT 920 AM.

...DISCUSSION...
A NICE BREAK HAS DEVELOPED OVER CTP AT PRESENT AND THIS NEEDED TO BE
ACCOUNTED FOR IN ZONES E OF ALLEGHENIES AND WEST OF THE SUSQ RIVER.
BELIEVE THE LOWER SUSQ AND FAR E ZONES WILL CONTINUE TO SEE
REGENERATION OF THE SHRA AND ANY SUN BETWEEN SHRA WILL NOT BE WORTH
A MENTION. FURTHER WEST AND NORTH IT HAS BEEN A BEAUTIFUL EARLY
SUMMER MORNING.

LOOKING OUT OUR WINDOW WE CAN SEE THE CU/SC ALREADY HEADING THIS WAY
FROM THE W. THE CLD APPRS QUITE RAGGED SO THERE IS NOTHING GOING ON
OVHD TO GENERATE SHOWERS IMMEDIATELY E OF MTNS IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

KCCX IS PICKING UP -SHRA DEVELOPING FURTHER W FROM JEFFERSON CTY SW
TOWARD KPBZ.  SAT LOOP INDICATES MOTH EATEN SHRA DEVELOPING OVR E OH
MOVING NE SO IT WILL PROB BE ALMOST MID PM B4 SHRA/TSTMS MAKE IT E
OF THE MTNS.

RAIN WILL LIKELY CONTINUE WELL INTO TONIGHT OVER THE LOWER SUSQ AND
POINTS NE AND E FROM THERE.  TOUGH PART OF FCST IS PREDICTING SPOKES
ROTATING AROUND THE GIANT WHEEL DEVELOPING ALONG THE COAST.  THIS
HAS A MUCH STRONGER IMPLICATION TO THE FCST FURTHER WEST BECAUSE
EASTERN AREAS WILL REMAIN WET WHILE W AND CPA WILL HAVE CHANGABLE
CONDITIONS DEPENDENT ON TIMING OF SPOKES ROTATING AROUND THE UL
LOW.

BELIEVE WESTERN ZFP HANDLES THIS REASONABLY WELL AND WILL ONLY TWEAK
IT A BIT THIS PM.

HEAD

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jun 13, 11:00 AM EDT, 16 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...FLASH FLOOD WATCH
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1100 AM EDT SAT JUN 13 1998

...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WATCH
THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN CENTRAL
PENNSYLVANIA... SCHUYLKILL... LEBANON... DAUPHIN... AND LANCASTER.

HEAVY RAINFALL OVERNIGHT HAS SATURATED THE GROUND AND RAISED STREAM
LEVELS TO NEAR BANK FULL.  RAIN IS CONTINUING OVER THE REGION AND
EXPECTED TO BECOME HEAVIER LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.  THIS
MAY RESULT IN SMALL STREAM FLOODING.

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT FLASH FLOODING IS A POSSIBILITY...
NOT A CERTAINTY.  PERSONS IN FLOOD PRONE AREAS SHOULD KEEP A
WATCHFUL EYE ON STREAMS AND CREEKS IN THEIR AREA AND MOVE TO HIGHER
GROUND IF A WARNING IS ISSUED LATER TODAY OR THIS EVENING.

HEAD

The office that day

Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 13, 12:58 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPBlair47 min
Jun 13, 3:56 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPSchuylkill59 min
Jun 13, 5:09 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPSchuylkill3 hr
Jun 13, 5:09 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningCTPLancaster3 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1998Every 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.