Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 7, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at May 31, 1998, 7:28 PM EDT for Elk County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 62 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
- May 31, 1998, 7:28 PM EDT (23:28 UTC)
- Expired
- May 31, 1998, 8:30 PM EDT
- In force
- 62 min
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Elk County, PA
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 31, 7:30 PM EDT | Tornado F1 | Johnsonburg, PA | An F1 tornado touched down near Kings Airfield on Grant Road about 5 miles north of Ridgway on Friday evening of May 31st. The storm moved northeast, crossing Route 948 before lifting off the ground. Damage was mostly to trees and farmland. Trees were also dam |
| May 31, 7:30 PM EDT | Tornado F0 | Ridgway, PA | A small tornado touched down just east of Route 948, 2 miles north of Ridgway just west of Moon Creek. Less than a dozen trees were blown over or damaged next to a warehouse. |
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, 3:30 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 7 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 166 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
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCTP 312326 RRA TORCTP PAC047-010030- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 728 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... ELK COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA * UNTIL 830 PM EDT * AT 726 PM EDT... STATE COLLEGE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 9 MILES NORTHWEST OF RIDGWAY MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR... RIDGWAY BY 726 PM EDT WILCOX BY 730 PM EDT JOHNSONBURG BY 730 PM EDT ST MARYS BY 735 PM EDT DENTS RUN BY 755 PM EDT GO< TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR! THESE STORMS HAVE PRODUCED TORNADOES AND MAY DO SO AGAIN. IT IS ADVISABLE TO MOVE TO SHELTER NOW...BEFORE LIFE-THREATENING WEATHER REACHES YOUR AREA. WINTHER/LA CORTE
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 31, 12:50 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CTP | Warren | 60 min |
| May 31, 1:24 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | McKean | 61 min |
| May 31, 3:29 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Cameron | 46 min |
| May 31, 3:58 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Potter | 32 min |
| May 31, 4:25 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Lycoming, Sullivan | 65 min |
| May 31, 5:12 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Warren | 48 min |
| May 31, 5:22 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CTP | Lycoming | 33 min |
| May 31, 5:35 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CTP | Columbia, Sullivan | 50 min |
| May 31, 6:26 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CTP | McKean | 34 min |
| May 31, 6:44 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Warren | 61 min |
| May 31, 6:50 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Potter | 65 min |
| May 31, 7:07 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Elk, McKean | 63 min |
| May 31, 7:20 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Tioga | 65 min |
| May 31, 7:20 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Cameron | 65 min |
| May 31, 7:35 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CTP | Tioga | 50 min |
| May 31, 7:53 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CTP | Cameron | 62 min |
| May 31, 7:56 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Potter | 64 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.