Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1999

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 10, NWS State College, PA

February 12, 1999Cumberland County, Franklin County, Perry County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 12, 1999, 12:33 PM EST for Cumberland County, Franklin County, Perry County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 57 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
Feb 12, 1999, 12:33 PM EST (17:33 UTC)
Expired
Feb 12, 1999, 1:30 PM EST
In force
57 min
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

Counties Cumberland County, PA, Franklin County, PA, Perry County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:34 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
Feb 12, 12:45 PM ESTThunderstorm WindMercersburg, PATrees were blown down on wires along Tuscarora Ridge.
Feb 12, 1:09 PM ESTThunderstorm WindWest Fairview, PATrees and wires down.

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, 5.6 hours before the alert went out and 135 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 1999-02-12Temperature 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 1999-02-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 273 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
628 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
273 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
353 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 Feb 12, 9:38 AM EST, 2 hours 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 12, 9:38 AM EST, 2 hours 55 minutes before
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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Feb 12, 10:45 AM EST, 1 hour 48 minutes before
PAZ028-035-036-050>053-056>059-063>066-122115-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
1045 AM EST FRI FEB 12 1999

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA THIS
AFTERNOON...

A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL PUSH INTO SOUTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA THIS
AFTERNOON. VERY WARM AND UNSTABLE AIR...STREAMING NORTHWARD AHEAD
OF THE FRONT...WILL RESULT IN SHOWERS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS
THIS AFTERNOON.

ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT FORM ALONG THE COLD FRONT WILL MOVE RAPIDLY TO
THE EAST...AND HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR CREATING DAMAGING GUSTS OVER 55
MPH.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...OR YOUR FAVORITE SOURCE OF
NATIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION VIA CABLE TELEVISION OR COMMERCIAL
RADIO...FOR LATER STATEMENTS...NOWCASTS...AND POSSIBLE WATCHES OR
WARNINGS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS WEATHER SITUATION.

.END/ FITZGERALD

FURTHER WEATHER INFORMATION CAN BE OBTAINED VIA THE INTERNET AT
HTTP://BOOKEND.MET.PSU.EDU (ALL LOWER CASE).

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 12, 2:50 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPYork60 min
Feb 12, 2:56 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPLancaster59 min
Feb 12, 3:58 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPLancaster32 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 1999Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1999

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.