Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 2, NWS State College, PA

July 18, 2003Clearfield County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at Jul 18, 2003, 3:45 PM EDT for Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 30 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: Jul 18, 2003, 3:45 PM EDT (19:45 UTC)
Expired: Jul 18, 2003, 4:15 PM EDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Clearfield County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 47 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:47 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 nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 143 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: 270 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -31 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1045 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 51 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 86 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.

643 
WFUS51 KCTP 181945
TORCTP
PAC033-182015-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
345 PM EDT FRI JUL 18 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CLEARFIELD COUNTY IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 415 PM EDT.

* AT 337 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO NEAR ROCKTON...OR 8
  MILES SOUTHEAST OF DUBOIS...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  CURWENSVILLE AROUND 400 PM.
  JEFFRIES AROUND 415 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.

THIS TORNADO WARNING REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING THAT
WAS IN EFFECT FOR THE SAME AREA.

LAT...LON 4109 7867 4100 7878 4075 7840 4086 7831

DEVOIR/JUNG/ONDREJIK

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 18, 6:18 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	McKean, Potter	3 hr
Jul 18, 3:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Clearfield	53 min
Jul 18, 4:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Clearfield	31 min
Jul 18, 4:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Lycoming, Union	57 min
Jul 18, 4:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Centre	50 min
Jul 18, 5:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Huntingdon	27 min
Jul 18, 5:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Columbia, Northumberland	22 min
Jul 18, 6:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Juniata, Mifflin	28 min
Jul 18, 7:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Perry	29 min
Jul 18, 7:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Dauphin	59 min
Jul 18, 7:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Lebanon	59 min
Jul 18, 7:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Huntingdon	18 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.