Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 5, NWS State College, PA

July 21, 2003Lycoming County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at Jul 21, 2003, 5:17 PM EDT for Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 28 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 21, 2003, 5:17 PM EDT (21:17 UTC)
Expired
Jul 21, 2003, 5:45 PM EDT
In force
28 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), 116 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:17 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Jul 21, 1:40 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD (KAPG), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 200 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD at 12:00Z on 2003-07-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1296 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Phillips Aaf/Abe, MD at 12:00Z on 2003-07-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 117 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1296 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-11 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
611 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
117 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
162 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS51 KCTP 212117
TORCTP
PAC081-212145-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
517 PM EDT MON JUL 21 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 545 PM EDT.

* AT 507 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A DEVELOPING TORNADO NEAR DELAWARE RUN...
  OR 8 MILES NORTH OF MILTON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 55 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  LAIRDSVILLE AROUND 520 PM.
  BIGGERTOWN AROUND 530 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 4115 7660 4117 7681 4119 7684 4124 7682
          4133 7661 4127 7644


$$

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 21, 2:29 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPWarren61 min
Jul 21, 2:41 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPElk, McKean79 min
Jul 21, 3:10 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCameron65 min
Jul 21, 3:18 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPClearfield57 min
Jul 21, 3:24 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPPotter81 min
Jul 21, 3:46 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCentre, Huntingdon59 min
Jul 21, 3:51 PM EDTTornado WarningCTPPotter24 min
Jul 21, 3:55 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPClinton65 min
Jul 21, 3:58 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPTioga62 min
Jul 21, 4:00 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPAdams45 min
Jul 21, 4:04 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPMifflin41 min
Jul 21, 4:12 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPLycoming93 min
Jul 21, 4:21 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPJuniata, Snyder, Union84 min
Jul 21, 4:34 PM EDTTornado WarningCTPClinton, Lycoming26 min
Jul 21, 4:51 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPCentre39 min
Jul 21, 4:59 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPMontour, Northumberland61 min
Jul 21, 5:05 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPColumbia, Sullivan70 min
Jul 21, 5:11 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPPerry49 min
Jul 21, 5:47 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPDauphin, Schuylkill73 min
Jul 21, 6:11 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPAdams49 min
Jul 21, 7:03 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPAdams, York57 min
Jul 21, 7:32 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPSchuylkill43 min
Jul 21, 7:35 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPLancaster55 min
Jul 21, 7:45 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPFranklin30 min

Nearby

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