Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Pittsburgh, PA

April 15, 2002Butler County, Pennsylvania

NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this tornado warning at Apr 15, 2002, 7:35 PM EDT for Butler County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 25 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: Apr 15, 2002, 7:35 PM EDT (23:35 UTC)
Expired: Apr 15, 2002, 8:00 PM EDT
In force: 25 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 23:34 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
Apr 15, 7:40 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Eau Claire, PA

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
Apr 15, 6:15 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 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-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: 67 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -30 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 620 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 192 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 243 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.

000 
WFUS51 KPBZ 152335
TORPBZ
PAC019-160000-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
735 PM EDT MON APR 15 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  BUTLER COUNTY IN PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 800 PM EDT

* AT 735 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO OVER EXTREME NORTHEASTERN BUTLER COUNTY...MOVING SOUTHEAST
  AT 40 MPH.

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
Apr 15, 6:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Mercer	41 min
Apr 15, 6:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Venango	60 min
Apr 15, 6:24 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	PBZ	Mercer	36 min
Apr 15, 6:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Clarion	61 min
Apr 15, 6:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Mercer	46 min
Apr 15, 7:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Venango	48 min
Apr 15, 7:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Jefferson	46 min
Apr 15, 7:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Butler	27 min
Apr 15, 7:23 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	PBZ	Mercer	3 hr
Apr 15, 7:46 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Clarion	44 min
Apr 15, 7:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Venango	19 min
Apr 15, 7:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PBZ	Jefferson	32 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.