Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 3, NWS State College, PA

May 13, 2000York County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at May 13, 2000, 7:13 PM EDT for York County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 32 min. No storm report in the archive falls 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.

The facts

Issued: May 13, 2000, 7:13 PM EDT (23:13 UTC)
Expired: May 13, 2000, 7:45 PM EDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County York County, PA

The radar

The Sterling radar (KLWX), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:14 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.

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 13, 2:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr
May 13, 5:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 11.2 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.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 680 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -169 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1644 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 7 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -23 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

831 
WFUS51 KCTP 132317
TORCTP
PAC133-132345-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
713 PM EDT SAT MAY 13 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  YORK COUNTY.

* UNTIL 745 PM EDT.

* AT 711 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO 4 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
  WINTERSTOWN...OR ABOUT 7 MILES SOUTH OF DALLASTOWN...MOVING
  NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  EAST PROSPECT...AND YORKANA AT 725 PM EDT.

GO TO A BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.

.END/RXR/DUNHAM

LAT...LON 3987 7675 3971 7664 3975 7625 4004 7657

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 13, 8:25 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Somerset	65 min
May 13, 4:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Huntingdon	43 min
May 13, 5:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Lancaster, York	67 min
May 13, 5:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Schuylkill	55 min
May 13, 5:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Snyder	68 min
May 13, 5:28 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Northumberland, Union	62 min
May 13, 5:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Cumberland, Franklin, Perry	54 min
May 13, 6:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Adams	68 min
May 13, 6:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Schuylkill	55 min
May 13, 6:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Dauphin, Lebanon	63 min
May 13, 6:49 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Lancaster, York	56 min
May 13, 7:25 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CTP	Lancaster	35 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Pennsylvania, 2000 Every tornado warning in 2000 Tornadoes in 2000

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.