Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 4, NWS State College, PA

May 13, 2000Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at May 13, 2000, 7:25 PM EDT for Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 35 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 13, 2000, 7:25 PM EDT (23:25 UTC)
Expired: May 13, 2000, 8:00 PM EDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Lancaster County, PA

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 13, 7:40 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Strasburg, PA	A number of trees and wires down in the southeastern part of the county.

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

The nearest sounding before it

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 148 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.

677 
WFUS51 KCTP 132327
TORCTP
PAC071-140000-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  LANCASTER COUNTY.

* UNTIL 800 PM EDT.

* AT 721 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO 17 MILES SOUTHWEST OF WILLOW
  STREET...OR ABOUT 8 MILES SOUTHEAST OF RED LION...MOVING EAST AT 40
  MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  WILLOW STREET AT 740 PM EDT.
  QUARRYVILLE...AND STRASBURG AT 745 PM EDT.
  PARADISE AT 750 PM EDT.
  CHRISTIANA...AND GAP AT 755 PM EDT.

A FUNNEL CLOUD WAS REPORTED WITH THIS STORM IN SOUTHEASTERN YORK 
COUNTY. 

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

.END/RXR/DUNHAM

LAT...LON 3992 7647 3975 7639 3990 7582 4011 7593

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, 7:13 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CTP	York	32 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.