Alert archive / New York / Tornado Watches in 2005

Tornado Watch 735

August 19, 200512 counties in New York; 4 counties in Pennsylvania

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Aug 19, 2005, 4:05 PM EDT for 12 counties in New York; 4 counties in Pennsylvania. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Aug 19, 2005, 4:05 PM EDT (20:05 UTC)
Expired
Aug 19, 2005, 9:01 PM EDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Allegany County, NY, Cattaraugus County, NY, Chautauqua County, NY, Erie County, NY, Genesee County, NY, Livingston County, NY, Monroe County, NY, Niagara County, NY, Ontario County, NY, Orleans County, NY, Wayne County, NY, Wyoming County, NY, Crawford County, PA, Erie County, PA, McKean County, PA, Warren County, PA

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 19 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:05 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.

Warnings issued inside it

4 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 19, 5:12 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLECrawford, Erie67 min
Aug 19, 6:23 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCLECrawford67 min
Aug 19, 6:43 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPWarren62 min
Aug 19, 7:06 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFCattaraugus, Chautauqua54 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 15 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 12:00Z on 2005-08-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 68 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 12:00Z on 2005-08-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 60 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
68 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-71 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
832 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
60 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
145 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 
WWUS20 KWNS 192006
SEL5  
SPC WW 192006
NYZ000-PAZ000-LEZ000-LOZ000-200200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 735
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
405 PM EDT FRI AUG 19 2005

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       WESTERN NEW YORK
       NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA
       LAKE ERIE
       LAKE ONTARIO

EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 405 PM UNTIL 1000
PM EDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 65 STATUTE MILES
EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES NORTH OF ROCHESTER NEW YORK
TO 35 MILES SOUTH OF JAMESTOWN NEW YORK.  FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION
OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS
WOU5).

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS ARE BEGINNING TO DEVELOP SWD ALONG
PRE-FRONTAL BOUNDARY FROM SWRN ONTARIO INTO ERN LAKE ERIE IN
RESPONSE TO INCREASING DYNAMIC FORCING FOR ASCENT IN ADVANCE OF
UPPER SHORT WAVE MOVING ACROSS SWRN ONTARIO.  AIRMASS HAS
DESTABILIZED ALONG THE SRN SHORE OF LAKE ONTARIO SSWWD INTO ERN OH
AND WRN PA...AND CONTINUING SOUTHERLY WINDS NEAR THE SURFACE VEER
MARKEDLY ABOVE THE BOUNDARY LAYER RESULTING IN STRONG VERTICAL SHEAR
SUPPORTIVE OF SEVERE STORMS INCLUDING POSSIBLE TORNADOES.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
450. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 26030.


...WEISS

433,0762 413,0775 413,0803 433,0785

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 19, 8:16 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Niagara59 min
Aug 19, 2:32 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Livingston and 4 more118 min
Aug 19, 7:12 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Livingston and 6 more93 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in New York, 2005Tornado Watches in Pennsylvania, 2005Every tornado watch in 2005

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.