Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 2004

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Cleveland, OH

May 20, 2004Erie County, Pennsylvania

NWS Cleveland, OH issued this tornado warning at May 20, 2004, 11:11 PM EDT for Erie County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 34 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 20, 2004, 11:11 PM EDT (03:11 UTC)
Expired
May 20, 2004, 11:45 PM EDT
In force
34 min
Issued by
NWS Cleveland, OH
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Erie County, PA

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 140 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:13 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

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 00:00Z, 3.2 hours before the alert went out and 140 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, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 00:00Z on 2004-05-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1163 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 00:00Z on 2004-05-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 284 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
1163 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
875 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
284 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
339 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.2
Supercell composite
9.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

691 
WFUS51 KCLE 210311
TORCLE
PAC049-210345-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH
1111 PM EDT THU MAY 20 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CLEVELAND HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  ERIE COUNTY IN NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA...

* UNTIL 1145 PM EDT

* AT 1111 PM EDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO OVER
  WATTSBURG...OR ABOUT 17 MILES SOUTHEAST OF ERIE...MOVING SOUTHEAST
  AT 35 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...
  CORRY
  UNION CITY
  WATTSBURG

THIS WARNING REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING PREVIOUSLY
ISSUED FOR THE WARNED AREA.

LAT...LON 4186 7978 4193 7989 4203 7978 4200 7976
          4199 7962 4186 7962

$$

LOMBARDY

The office that day

Everything else NWS Cleveland, OH issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 20, 10:47 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLEErie58 min
May 21, 2:17 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLEErie28 min
May 21, 6:50 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningCLECrawford115 min
May 21, 5:15 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLECrawford75 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Pennsylvania, 2004Every tornado warning in 2004Tornadoes in 2004

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.