Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 12, NWS Pittsburgh, PA

July 26, 2002Clarion County, Pennsylvania

NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this tornado warning at Jul 26, 2002, 7:04 PM EDT for Clarion County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 26 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: Jul 26, 2002, 7:04 PM EDT (23:04 UTC)
Expired: Jul 26, 2002, 7:30 PM EDT
In force: 26 min
Issued by: NWS Pittsburgh, PA
Area: Whole counties

County Clarion County, PA

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 99 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:04 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
Jul 26, 7:15 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Tylersburg, PA	Thunderstorm winds downed several trees and power lines along State Route 36. One of these trees fell onto a pickup truck.
Jul 26, 7:25 PM EDT	Tornado F0	Scotch Hill, PA	An F0 tornado with an estimated maximum wind of 70 MPH blew through Cook Forest State Park. This tornado had a total path length of 2 miles and a width of 150 yards. Approximately 60 to 70 trees were downed by this tornado, with one falling onto a parked pic

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 nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 104 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: 1205 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -26 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 703 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 72 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 96 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 2.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

184 
WFUS51 KPBZ 262304
TORPBZ
PAC031-262330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
704 PM EDT FRI JUL 26 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN CLARION COUNTY IN PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 730 PM EDT

* AT 704 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO OVER EXTREME NORTH CENTRAL CLARION COUNTY...MOVING   
SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH. TOWNS IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO INCLUDE 
NEWMANSVILLE...LICKINGVILLE AND TYLERSBURG.

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A
WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS
AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING IN AN
INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. EVACUATE MOBILE HOMES AND
GET INSIDE A SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 26, 12:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Mercer	40 min
Jul 26, 1:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Westmoreland	39 min
Jul 26, 2:10 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	PBZ	Westmoreland	2 hr
Jul 26, 2:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Westmoreland	63 min
Jul 26, 6:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Forest	62 min
Jul 26, 6:58 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	PBZ	Forest	47 min
Jul 26, 7:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Jefferson	61 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.