Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 1, NWS State College, PA

May 11, 2003Lycoming County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at May 11, 2003, 3:49 PM EDT for Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 41 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 11, 2003, 3:49 PM EDT (19:49 UTC)
Expired: May 11, 2003, 4:30 PM EDT
In force: 41 min
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Lycoming County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:51 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.

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 11, 1:50 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 213 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: 281 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -165 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 850 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 56 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 107 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

022 
WFUS51 KCTP 111949
TORCTP
PAC081-112030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
349 PM EDT SUN MAY 11 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  LYCOMING COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 430 PM EDT.

* AT 346 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO NEAR JERSEY
  SHORE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  ENGLISH CENTER AROUND 400 PM.
  COGAN STATION AND TROUT RUN AND BUTTONWOOD AROUND 410 PM.
  LOYALSOCKVILLE AROUND 420 PM.
  RALSTON AROUND 425 PM.
  BARBOURS AROUND 430 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.

LAT...LON 4128 7744 4118 7730 4139 7672 4160 7683
          4155 7732

DANGELO
$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 11, 3:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Clinton, Lycoming	54 min
May 11, 4:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Lycoming	15 min
May 11, 5:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Sullivan	47 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Pennsylvania, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes in 2003

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.