Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 2002
Tornado Warning 2, NWS State College, PA
NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at May 2, 2002, 4:56 PM EDT for York County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 19 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 2, 2002, 4:56 PM EDT (20:56 UTC)
- Expired
- May 2, 2002, 5:15 PM EDT
- In force
- 19 min
- Issued by
- NWS State College, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County York County, PA
The radar
The Sterling radar (KLWX), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:55 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 2, 5:10 PM EDT | Hail 1.75 | Delta, PA | Golfball sized hail was reported in Delta. |
| May 2, 5:10 PM EDT | Hail 1 | Airville, PA | Quarter sized hail was reported in Airville. |
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 2, 2:30 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 7 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Wallops Is Stn, VA (KWAL), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 249 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 12 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -90 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 540 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 82 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 408 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 464 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WFUS51 KCTP 022056 TORCTP PAC133-022115- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 456 PM EDT THU MAY 2 2002 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... YORK COUNTY IN PENNSYLVANIA * UNTIL 515 PM EDT. * AT 454 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO NEAR STEWARTSTOWN... OR 8 MILES SOUTH OF RED LION...MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR... BROGUE AT 515 PM. 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. $$ GRUMM
The office that day
Everything else NWS State College, PA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2, 3:15 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Northumberland, Union | 60 min |
| May 2, 3:44 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Adams | 61 min |
| May 2, 4:15 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | York | 60 min |
| May 2, 4:41 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Lancaster | 64 min |
| May 2, 7:33 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CTP | Lancaster | 42 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Pennsylvania, 2002Every tornado warning in 2002Tornadoes 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.