Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 2004

Tornado Warning 22, NWS State College, PA

September 17, 2004Adams County, Franklin County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at Sep 17, 2004, 7:43 PM EDT for Adams County, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 47 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: Sep 17, 2004, 7:43 PM EDT (23:43 UTC)
Expired: Sep 17, 2004, 8:30 PM EDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Adams County, PA, Franklin County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 112 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:45 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Sep 17, 6:50 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 116 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: 105 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -89 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 687 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 74 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 150 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS51 KCTP 172343
TORCTP
PAC001-055-180030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
742 PM EDT FRI SEP 17 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  FRANKLIN COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
  ADAMS COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 830 PM EDT

* AT 734 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING
  A TORNADO NEAR THURMONT...OR 11 MILES SOUTH OF WAYNESBORO...MOVING
  NORTH AT 30 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  ROUZERVILLE AND CARROLL VALLEY AROUND 750 PM EDT...
  WAYNESBORO AROUND 755 PM EDT...
  MONT ALTO AROUND 805 PM EDT...
  FAYETTEVILLE AND CASHTOWN AROUND 810 PM EDT...
  SCOTLAND AROUND 820 PM EDT...

THIS THUNDERSTORM HAS A LONG HISTORY OF PRODUCING TORNADOES. THIS IS 
A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION.

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 3973 7761 4022 7763 4022 7762 4014 7762
      4012 7757 4002 7752 3996 7746 3999 7740
      4001 7732 3973 7735

$$

DJO/JV

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 17, 2:15 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Warren	6 hr
Sep 17, 5:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Bedford, Fulton	64 min
Sep 17, 5:22 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CTP	Bedford, Fulton	53 min
Sep 17, 7:20 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CTP	Franklin	40 min
Sep 17, 7:29 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CTP	Fulton	46 min

Nearby

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