Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Binghamton, NY

May 31, 2002Wayne County, Pennsylvania

NWS Binghamton, NY issued this tornado warning at May 31, 2002, 4:37 PM EDT for Wayne County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 23 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, 2002, 4:37 PM EDT (20:37 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 2002, 5:00 PM EDT
In force: 23 min
Issued by: NWS Binghamton, NY
Area: Whole counties

County Wayne County, PA

The radar

The Binghamton radar (KBGM), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:36 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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 31, 4:55 PM EDT	Tornado F1	Equinunk, PA	The tornado initially touched down across the Delaware River from Lordville, New York which is 1 mile northeast of Equinunk, Pennsylvania. The tornado then traveled east until it lifted out of the river valley approximately a mile and a half downstream or eas
May 31, 5:00 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50 E	Damascus, PA	Trees 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 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, 2:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Albany, NY (KALY), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 168 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: 59 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -161 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 835 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 138 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 141 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

048 
WFUS51 KBGM 312037
TORBGM
PAC127-312100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BINGHAMTON NY
436 PM EDT FRI MAY 31 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BINGHAMTON HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN WAYNE COUNTY IN NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 500 PM EDT.

* AT 434 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO NEAR STARRUCA...OR 9
  MILES SOUTHWEST OF DEPOSIT...MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  HIAWATHA AND STARLIGHT AT 440 PM.
  EQUINUNK AT 450 PM.

THIS WARNING REPLACES THE PREVIOUS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
ISSUED EARLIER FOR WAYNE COUNTY.

FOR YOUR PROTECTION FROM THE DAMAGING WINDS OF A TORNADO...GO TO A
BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR
BUSINESS.

$$

LAT...LON 4199 7549 4186 7548 4182 7516 4200 7537

The office that day

Everything else NWS Binghamton, NY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 3:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BGM	Wayne	54 min
May 31, 4:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BGM	Luzerne	47 min
May 31, 4:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BGM	Susquehanna	58 min
May 31, 4:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BGM	Wayne	59 min
May 31, 5:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BGM	Pike	27 min
May 31, 6:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BGM	Lackawanna, Wayne	38 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Pennsylvania, 2002 Every tornado warning in 2002 Tornadoes in 2002

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.