Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 113, NWS Pittsburgh, PA

May 31, 2002Butler County, Pennsylvania

NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 2002, 6:09 PM EDT for Butler County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 51 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
May 31, 2002, 6:09 PM EDT (22:09 UTC)
Expired
May 31, 2002, 7:00 PM EDT
In force
51 min
Issued by
NWS Pittsburgh, PA
Area
Whole counties

County Butler County, PA

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 49 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:09 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
May 31, 6:50 PM EDTThunderstorm WindHerman, PAThunderstorm winds downed a few large trees. One of these trees fell onto a mobile home.

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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 31, 2:45 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 58 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 2002-05-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 164 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2002-05-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 59 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
164 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-84 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1195 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
59 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
73 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

855 
WUUS51 KPBZ 312209
SVRPBZ
PAC019-312300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
609 PM EDT FRI MAY 31 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  BUTLER COUNTY IN PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 700 PM EDT

* AT 609 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER SAXONBURG...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

<<CALL TO ACTION>>LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND HEAVY RAINFALL
ARE LIKELY WITH THIS STORM. TAKE COVER IN A STURDY BUILDING UNTIL THE
STORM HAS PASSED.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 31, 4:15 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZMercer45 min
May 31, 4:22 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZJefferson53 min
May 31, 4:28 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZButler62 min
May 31, 5:18 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZJefferson57 min
May 31, 5:33 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZLawrence57 min
May 31, 5:36 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZIndiana39 min
May 31, 5:44 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZBeaver61 min
May 31, 6:01 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZArmstrong59 min
May 31, 6:07 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZAllegheny53 min
May 31, 6:18 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZWashington57 min
May 31, 6:32 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningPBZAllegheny3 hr
May 31, 6:51 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZWestmoreland54 min
May 31, 6:57 PM EDTTornado WarningPBZAllegheny48 min
May 31, 7:00 PM EDTTornado WarningPBZWestmoreland45 min
May 31, 7:19 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZWashington41 min
May 31, 7:28 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZFayette62 min
May 31, 7:47 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZWestmoreland43 min
May 31, 7:47 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZGreene58 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 2002Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.