Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1999

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 8, NWS State College, PA

January 23, 1999Bedford County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jan 23, 1999, 5:35 PM EST for Bedford County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 50 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
Jan 23, 1999, 5:35 PM EST (22:35 UTC)
Expired
Jan 23, 1999, 6:25 PM EST
In force
50 min
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Bedford County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:35 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
Jan 23, 6:00 PM ESTThunderstorm WindBreezewood, PATree was blown over on the turnpike near Breezewood.

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

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 144 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 12:00Z on 1999-01-23Temperature 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1999-01-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 581 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
947 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
62 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
581 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
627 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 Jan 23, 2:30 PM EST, 3 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 23, 2:30 PM EST, 3 hours 5 minutes before
CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
230 PM EST SAT JAN 23 1999

...QPS...KEPTED FAIRLY CLOSE TO WHAT WE HAD EARLIER...USE
1238 PM VERSION...NOT 1228 PM VERSION...AS 1228 PM WAS SENT
BY MISTAKE...

...WORK ZONES BY 3 PM...

...ZONES BY 345 PM...

...CHANGES...

WILL KEEP FCST CLOSE TO WHAT WE HAVE OUT NOW.

FOR MONDAY INTO THU...MAINLY DRY WX...CHC OF A SHOWER/SNOW
SHOWER HERE AND THERE.

...DISC...

WARM AIR JUST ENTERING OUR WESTERN AND SOUTHERN MOST PART OF OUR
CWA.  BAND OF SHOWERS OVER EASTERN OHIO...LIKELY TO HOLD TOGETHER
...AS W PA IN WARM SECTOR.  TROPICAL AIR TRYING TO MOVE INTO
EXTREME S PORTION OF LOWER SUSQ VLY.  FEED OF MOISTURE NOW IN
PLACE FROM THE SE ATLANTIC.  EXPECT THAT HEAVIEST RAIN WILL
BE OVER EXTREME NW AREA...GIVEN BETTER DYNAMICS...AND ACROSS
SE PA...GIVEN FEED OFF SE ATLANTIC.  MOST OF THE RAIN WILL
BE BETWEEN 00Z AND 12Z.

FOR SEVERE WX...WE ARE NOT OUTLOOK...NOR DO WE GET INTO THE
BETTER DYNAMICS...AS SYSTEM SHEARS OUT.  AN ISOLATED STORM
COULD OCCUR EARLY ON THIS EVENING...BUT SHOULD NOT DO MUCH.

FOR WIND...ISOLATED GUSTS LIKELY EARLY THIS EVENING ACROSS
W SECTION...WILL KEEP WINDS UP IN ZONES.  SHOULD BE UNDER
ADVISORY LEVELS.

FOR RAIN...WILL KEEP FLOOD WATCH UP...QPS LIKELY TO RANGE FROM
1.0 TO 1.5.  LEVELS WILL COME CLOSE...GIVEN RAIN AND SNOW MELT.

GUSTY WINDS AND HIGH DEWPOINTS WILL EAT AWAY AT A LOT OF SNOW.

WILL HANDLE FOG AS PATCHY...LOOKS LIKE IT IS ON ITS WAY OUT.

.CTP...FLASH FLOOD WATCH ENTIRE FA FOR TONIGHT AND SUNDAY.

MARTIN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 23, 5:25 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningCTPBedford, Blair, Cambria, Clearfield6 hr
Jan 23, 5:25 PM ESTFlash Flood WarningCTPSomerset6 hr
Jan 23, 6:34 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPHuntingdon46 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.