Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 1, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at Apr 17, 1998, 4:08 PM EDT for York County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 32 min. 2 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
- Apr 17, 1998, 4:08 PM EDT (20:08 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 17, 1998, 4:40 PM EDT
- In force
- 32 min
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County York County, PA
The radar
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:08 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 17, 4:10 PM EDT | Hail 1 | Glen Rock, PA | |
| Apr 17, 4:15 PM EDT | Hail 1 | Shrewsbury, PA | Quarter sized hail fell in Shrewsbury and trees and limbs were downed in Glen Rock. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 17, 3:00 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 122 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1936 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -67 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -46 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
536 WFUS01 KCTP 172006 RRA TORCTP PAC133-172040- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 408 PM EDT FRI APR 17 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... SOUTHERN YORK COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA * UNTIL 440 PM EDT * AT 405... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO JUST WEST OF STEWARTSTOWN... MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR... MUDDY CREEK BY 420 PM GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IN A HOME OR BUSINESS IS AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. LA CORTE
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 17, 2:35 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Cumberland, Dauphin | 60 min |
| Apr 17, 2:55 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Adams | 45 min |
| Apr 17, 3:27 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | York | 63 min |
| Apr 17, 4:24 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CTP | Lancaster | 36 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes 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.