Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS State College, PA

March 9, 1998Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 9, 1998, 6:41 PM EST for Lancaster 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
Mar 9, 1998, 6:41 PM EST (23:41 UTC)
Expired
Mar 9, 1998, 7:40 PM EST
In force
59 min
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Lancaster County, PA

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Mar 9, 6:45 PM ESTHail 0.88Centerville, PANickel sized hail fell in Centerville, west of Lancaster.

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

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 157 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, Washington/Dulle, VA at 12:00Z on 1998-03-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Washington/Dulle, VA at 12:00Z on 1998-03-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 529 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
534 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
76 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
529 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
444 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.

387 
WUUS01 KCTP 092339 RRA
SVRCTP
PAC071-100040-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
641 PM EST MON MAR 9 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 740 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA

   ...LANCASTER COUNTY
 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR AT 635 PM INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM JUST TO THE WEST OF LANCASTER...IN NORTHWESTERN
LANCASTER COUNTY.

THE STORM WAS MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

THE STORM WILL MOVE TO NEAR LITITZ AND EPHRATA BETWEEN 650 PM
AND 7 PM.
 
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.

LAMBERT/ONDREJIK

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 Mar 9, 2:00 PM EST, 4 hours 41 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 9, 2:00 PM EST, 4 hours 41 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
145 PM EST MON FEB 09 1998

...SUGGESTIONS...
PIT/PHL...SVR THREAT EAST OF MY CWA.
PIT...LK EFFECT SNOW ADV FOR WARREN AND MCKEAN COUNTIES AND INCLUDE
THE LAUREL HIGHLANDS IN SNOW ADV FOR LATE TONIGHT (AFT MIDNIGHT)
THRU TUESDAY.

...DISCUSSION...
RADAR SHOWS BAND OF SHOWERS MOVING NE OUT OF CWA. ACTIVITY WAS
ASSOCIATED WITH WINDSHIFT/TROF. STABLE...MILD...DRY AIR HAS BUILD
IN BEHIND THIS FEATURE.

TO OUR WEST...SHARP COLD FRONT WITH ARCTIC AIR APPROACHING KCLE
ATTM. THIS FRONT WILL BRING RENEWED SHOWER ACTIVITY AND BREEZY
CONDITIONS FROM W TO E ACROSS FCST/A THIS EVE.

AFTER 06Z...SFC-7H WINDS SOMEWHAT ALIGN FROM THE NW ALLOWING FOR
THE LK EFFECT MACHINE TO GET INTO GEAR (MULTIBAND). IN
ADDITION...8H TEMPS WILL CONTINUE TO FALL INTO TUESDAY NIGHT WITH
8H -22C READINGS SLIDING SE. SUBSIDENCE INVERSION ARND 830MB AND
DECENT WIND FIELD THRU MIDDAY TUESDAY SHOULD BRING ADV SNOW AMTS TO
LAUREL HIGHLANDS AND PORTIONS OF THE NW MTNS.

TUESDAY WILL BE A CLOUDY COLD BREEZY DAY WITH SNOWSHOWERS
CONTINUING OVER THE N MTNS AND LAUREL HIGHLANDS. LK EFFECT WILL
LIKELY BE ENHANCED WED EVE AS ANOTHER SHRTWV SLIDES SE OUT OF
CANADA.

WINTHER

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 9, 5:47 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPYork48 min
Mar 9, 5:57 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPLancaster, Lebanon43 min

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.