Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 2002
Tornado Warning 5, NWS Pittsburgh, PA
NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this tornado warning at Apr 28, 2002, 2:43 PM EDT for Mercer County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 47 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 28, 2002, 2:43 PM EDT (18:43 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 28, 2002, 3:30 PM EDT
- In force
- 47 min
- Issued by
- NWS Pittsburgh, PA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Mercer County, PA
The radar
The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:45 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 28, 2:45 PM EDT | Tornado F1 | Mercer, 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 28, 11:45 AM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 6.7 hours before the alert went out and 100 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
- 6 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -93 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 705 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 58 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 134 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 191 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
039 WFUS51 KPBZ 281843 TORPBZ PAC085-281930- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 242 PM EDT SUN APR 28 2002 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... MERCER COUNTY IN PENNSYLVANIA * UNTIL 330 PM EDT * AT 242 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 7 MILES NORTHWEST OF MERCER...MOVING EAST AT 50 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 28, 2:20 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Beaver | 55 min |
| Apr 28, 2:22 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Mercer | 53 min |
| Apr 28, 2:45 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Washington | 60 min |
| Apr 28, 2:57 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Butler | 63 min |
| Apr 28, 2:58 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Allegheny | 62 min |
| Apr 28, 3:20 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Greene | 55 min |
| Apr 28, 3:40 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Armstrong, Westmoreland | 65 min |
| Apr 28, 3:51 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Indiana | 54 min |
| Apr 28, 4:00 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PBZ | Fayette | 60 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.