Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2006

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 161, NWS State College, PA

July 20, 2006Blair County, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania

NWS State College, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 20, 2006, 7:02 PM EDT for Blair County, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. It was in force for 58 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 20, 2006, 7:02 PM EDT (23:02 UTC)
Expired
Jul 20, 2006, 8:00 PM EDT
In force
58 min
Issued by
NWS State College, PA
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Blair County, PA, Huntingdon County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 54 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:02 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

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 164 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2006-07-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 749 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2006-07-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -3 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
749 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-31 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1052 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-3 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
79 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS State College, PA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 20, 3:25 PM EDT, 3 hours 37 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 20, 3:25 PM EDT, 3 hours 37 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
325 PM EDT THU JUL 20 2006

.SHORT TERM /TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY/... COMPLEX SYSTEM IS POISED
OFF THE TO THE WEST. BERYL IS OFF THE NJ COAST. MEANWHILE WE SIT
IN BETWEEN IN A LOW LEVEL DEFORMATION ZONE THAT HAS LEFT WEAK FLOW
AND PLENTIFUL MOISTURE OVER THE REGION. STILL QUITE A BIT OF HAZE
AS HEATING LIFTS CLOUD BASES AND WE START TO SEE THE EFFECTS OF
SOME DEVELOPING INSTABILITY. THINK THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON
AND EVENING WILL SEE A FEW POP-UP SHOWERS AND STORMS AS GUIDANCE
SHOWS CAPES EXCEEDING 1000J OVER MY WESTERN ZONES.

THE FORECAST GETS MURKY OVERNIGHT AND FRIDAY AS NAM AND GFS HAVE
DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT TIMING ON THE APPROACH OF THE FRONT. AS OF MID
DAY...NEITHER THE NAM NOR GFS SEEMS TO BE SEEING THE DEVELOPING
CONVECTION IN CENTRAL OHIO...SO CONFIDENCE IS LOW WITH BOTH MODELS.
GFS HAS A MUCH SLOWER SOLUTION FOR FRIDAY WHILE THE NAM SUGGESTS WE
SEE IMPROVEMENT FROM ABOUT MID DAY ONWARD. SREF SHOWS ONLY CHC POPS
OVERNIGHT WITH MOST OF MY FCST AREA HAVING LIKELY POPS TOMORROW. MRF
HAS ALMOST NO RAIN REACHING PA OVERNIGHT WHICH SEEMS
IMPLAUSIBLE...WITH LIKELY POPS FOR MOST AREAS FRIDAY.

IN THE END...I BASICALLY USED A BLEND OF POPS FROM THE ENSEMBLE
MOS...WHICH HAVE LIKELY NUMBERS IN THE WEST OVERNIGHT...WITH THE
LIKELIHOOD INCREASING FROM WEST TO EAST AT LEAST THRU THE FIRST HALF
OF FRIDAY. I MENTIONED LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN AS THE REAL SOUPY AIR WILL
BE ACTED UPON BY THE FRONT...AND TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS SEEM LIKELY.
WITH VERY LITTLE CONFIDENCE IN MODEL SOLUTIONS AND NO REAL FRONT IN
THE AREA YET...IMPOSSIBLE TO SETTLE ON AN AREA WHERE THE HEAVIEST
RAIN SEEMS LIKELIEST. SO WILL NOT ISSUE ANY FLOOD WATCHES AT THIS
TIME AS THE MOVEMENT OF THE EVENTUAL MCS WILL HAVE TO BE A SHORT
TERM FORECAST PROBLEM.

&&

.LONG TERM /FRIDAY NIGHT NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY/...
MODEL CONSENSUS DEPICTS A FRONT EARLY IN THIS EXTENDED PERIOD
LINGERING ACROSS THE SOUTHERN AND EASTERN PORTIONS OF PENNSYLVANIA
WHILE A WAVE OF LOW PRESSURE TRACKS ALONG IT ORIGINATING OVER THE
MIDWESTERN STATES ON FRIDAY. THIS WILL KEEP POPS FAIRLY HIGH
FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT WITH FINALLY SOME DRYING BY
SUNDAY AS DRIER NWLY FLOW DEVELOPS ACROSS THE AREA.

LONGWAVE 5H TROF POSITION WILL RESIDE OVER THE CENTRAL GLAKS
THROUGH FOR THE REMAINDER OF THIS EXTENDED PERIOD...BRINGING
SLIGHTLY COOLER AND JUST SLIGHTLY WETTER CONDITIONS AS COMPARED
WITH CLIMATOLOGY FOR THE SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY PERIOD. MONDAY
AND TUESDAY APPEAR TO BE THE DRY DAYS...WITH ONLY SLIGHT POPS
MENTIONED FOR TUESDAY AFTN AS WAR FRONT PUSHES IN FROM THE WSW.

BERMUDA HIGH LODGED OFFSHORE WILL CONTINUE TO ENCOURAGE MOISTURE
RETURN BY WED/THU OF NEXT WEEK WHILE SFC RIDGING IS INDICATED TO
OUR NORTH OVER EASTERN ON/SOUTHERN QUEBEC. THIS SUGGESTS THE
AFOREMENTIONED WARM FRONTAL ZONE LINGERING NEARBY WITH CONTINUED
DAILY CHC FOR SHOWERS FROM MID TO LATE NEXT WEEK.

&&

.AVIATION...
MOST STATIONS IMPROVING TO VFR AT MID DAY. STILL QUITE A BIT OF MVFR
AT THIS HOUR HOWEVER...MAINLY DUE TO VERY MOIST AIRMASS SUPPORTING
HAZE PROBLEMS. WESTERN AREAS WILL SEE A FEW POP-UP THUNDERSTORMS
THROUGH THE EVENING AS THE WEAK OHIO VALLEY FRONTAL SYSTEM
APPROACHES. EASTERN AREAS ARE A BIT MORE STABLE AND SEEING LOW LEVEL
FLOW BEING UNFAVORABLY SHEARED BY THE FLOW AROUND THE WESTERN
PERIPHERY OF BERYL.

MORE GENERAL SHOWERS AND STORMS TO BEGIN MOVING IN OVERNIGHT AS OHIO
VALLEY CONVECTION MOVES OUR WAY AHEAD OF THE FRONT. CONDITIONS WILL
LIKELY RETREAT TO MVFR IN MOST AREAS SHORTLY AFTER DARK OR TOWARD
MIDNIGHT...AND EVEN IFR TWD MORNING AS THE AIRMASS IS VERY HUMID.
RESTRICTIONS TO VISIBILITY FROM FOG AND HAZE WILL BECOME WIDESPREAD.

SLOW IMPROVEMENT WILL DEVELOP FRIDAY AS WE HEAT UP AND MOST OF THE
RAINS MOVE OFF TO THE EAST BY MID TO LATE DAY.

&&

.CTP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.
&&

SHORT TERM...LACORTE
LONG TERM...DEVOIR
AVIATION...LACORTE
Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 20, 5:52 AM EDT, 13 hours 10 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
552 AM EDT THU JUL 20 2006

PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>037-041-042-045-046-
049>053-056>059-063>066-211000-
WARREN-MCKEAN-POTTER-ELK-CAMERON-NORTHERN CLINTON-CLEARFIELD-
NORTHERN CENTRE-SOUTHERN CENTRE-CAMBRIA-BLAIR-HUNTINGDON-MIFFLIN-
JUNIATA-SOMERSET-BEDFORD-FULTON-FRANKLIN-TIOGA-NORTHERN LYCOMING-
SULLIVAN-SOUTHERN CLINTON-SOUTHERN LYCOMING-UNION-SNYDER-MONTOUR-
NORTHUMBERLAND-COLUMBIA-PERRY-DAUPHIN-SCHUYLKILL-LEBANON-
CUMBERLAND-ADAMS-YORK-LANCASTER-
552 AM EDT THU JUL 20 2006

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL
PENNSYLVANIA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE NORTHERN AND WESTERN
MOUNTAINS OF PENNSYLVANIA LATE TONIGHT. LOCALIZED...DAMAGING
STRAIGHT LINE WIND GUSTS WILL BE THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER THREAT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN OVER 2 INCHES...FALLING IN JUST A SEVERAL HOUR
PERIOD...COULD LEAD TO MINOR FLOODING PROBLEMS OF SOME SMALL
STREAMS AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS FRIDAY INTO EARLY SATURDAY...AS
LOW PRESSURE MOVES NORTHEAST ALONG A SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT WHICH
WILL BE CROSSING THE STATE. THE THREAT FOR HEAVY RAIN WILL BE
HIGHEST ACROSS THE CENTRAL AND LOWER SUSQUEHANNA RIVER VALLEY.

IN ADDITIONAL...SCATTERED STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE
POSSIBLE ACROSS THE LOWER SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE REQUIRED TODAY.

LAMBERT

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 20, 1:40 PM EDT, 5 hours 22 minutes before
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The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 20, 7:13 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCTPBedford47 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 2006Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2006

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.