Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Tornado Warnings in 2004

Tornado Warning 24, NWS State College, PA

September 17, 2004Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this tornado warning at Sep 17, 2004, 8:32 PM EDT for Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 43 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, 8:32 PM EDT (00:32 UTC)
Expired: Sep 17, 2004, 9:15 PM EDT
In force: 43 min
Issued by: NWS State College, PA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Cumberland County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 103 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:33 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

Washington/Dulle, VA (KIAD), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 127 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: 1144 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 556 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 168 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 235 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.8
Supercell composite: 4.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS51 KCTP 180032
TORCTP
PAC041-180115-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STATE COLLEGE PA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CUMBERLAND COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA

* UNTIL 915 PM EDT

* AT 828 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION NEAR SCOTLAND...OR 6 MILES
  SOUTH OF SHIPPENSBURG...MOVING NORTH AT 25 MPH. THIS DANGEROUS
  STORM COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  SHIPPENSBURG AROUND 840 PM EDT...
  
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.

PLEASE REPORT HAIL...STRONG WINDS OR WIND DAMAGE TO THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE BY CALLING TOLL FREE...1-877-633-6772.

LAT...LON 3998 7753 3998 7740 4026 7740 4023 7760

$$

JV

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 17, 8:11 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CTP	Bedford	34 min
Sep 17, 8:43 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	CTP	Juniata, Mifflin	47 min
Sep 17, 8:52 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Cambria, Clearfield	6 hr
Sep 17, 9:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Perry	58 min
Sep 17, 10:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Perry	59 min
Sep 18, 2:20 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Huntingdon	2 hr
Sep 18, 4:13 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CTP	Lancaster	47 min
Sep 18, 10:48 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Huntingdon	6 hr
Sep 18, 4:45 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	CTP	Huntingdon	6 hr

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.