Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 12, NWS State College, PA

May 31, 1998Somerset County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at May 31, 1998, 8:22 PM EDT for Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 38 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
May 31, 1998, 8:22 PM EDT (00:22 UTC)
Expired
May 31, 1998, 9:00 PM EDT
In force
38 min
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Somerset County, PA

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 104 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:33 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
May 31, 8:50 PM EDTTornado F3Salisbury, PAThe tornado touched down just east of Mt. Davis and traveled east-southeast into downtown Salisbury. The storm then continued eastward for 8 miles ending east of the town of Pocahontas. The tornado was rated as an F2 (113 to 157 mph) through the town of Salisb

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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 31, 6:30 PM EDTTornado WatchSPC7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 00:00Z, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 87 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 00:00Z on 1998-06-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 5 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 00:00Z on 1998-06-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 93 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
5 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-334 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1772 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
62 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
93 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
223 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.

756 
WFUS01 KCTP 010023 RRA
TORCTP
PAC111-010100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
822 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

   * TORNADO WARNING FOR...
     WESTERN SOMERSET COUNTY IN PENNSYLVANIA
     INCLUDING SOMERSET AND MEYERSDALE

   * UNTIL 900 PM EDT

   * AT 817 PM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
     THUNDERSTORM WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO 19 MILES WEST OF
     ROCKWOOD...OR ABOUT 25 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SOMERSET...MOVING EAST
     AT 60 MILES PER HOUR.

   * TORNADO WILL BE...
     12 MILES SOUTHWEST OF ROCKWOOD AT 825 PM EDT
     8 MILES WEST OF MEYERSDALE AT 835 PM EDT
     3 MILES SOUTHEAST OF MEYERSDALE AT 845 PM EDT

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A
WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS
AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING IN AN
INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. USE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO
COVER YOUR BODY AND ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

LA CORTE

LAT...LON 3988 7965 3975 7948 3974 7884 4014 7912

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 31, 8:10 PM EDTTornado WarningCTPLebanon35 min
May 31, 8:12 PM EDTTornado WarningCTPClinton, Potter78 min
May 31, 8:24 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCentre91 min
May 31, 8:24 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPLycoming91 min
May 31, 8:45 PM EDTTornado WarningCTPBedford, Somerset60 min
May 31, 8:56 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPLancaster, York34 min
May 31, 9:01 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPColumbia, Montour, Northumberland, Union89 min
May 31, 9:01 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPSullivan89 min
May 31, 9:32 PM EDTTornado WarningCTPBedford28 min
May 31, 9:45 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCambria, Somerset60 min
May 31, 9:45 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPBlair60 min
May 31, 9:46 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPFulton29 min
May 31, 10:19 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPFranklin56 min
May 31, 10:24 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPBedford66 min
May 31, 10:39 PM EDTTornado WarningCTPBedford66 min
May 31, 10:48 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPHuntingdon62 min
May 31, 10:52 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPFulton38 min
May 31, 11:32 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPFranklin48 min
May 31, 11:36 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPAdams, Cumberland64 min
May 31, 11:47 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPDauphin, York93 min
Jun 1, 12:09 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPLancaster76 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.