Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Mesoscale Discussions in 2011

Mesoscale Discussion 2121

September 4, 201119 counties in New York; 34 counties in Pennsylvania

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Sep 4, 2011, 1:33 PM EDT for 19 counties in New York; 34 counties in Pennsylvania. It was in force for 87 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Sep 4, 2011, 1:33 PM EDT (17:33 UTC)
Expired
Sep 4, 2011, 3:00 PM EDT
In force
87 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 53 counties

Broome County, NY, Chemung County, NY, Chenango County, NY, Cortland County, NY, Delaware County, NY, Fulton County, NY, Hamilton County, NY, Herkimer County, NY, Madison County, NY, Montgomery County, NY, Oneida County, NY, Onondaga County, NY, Otsego County, NY, Schoharie County, NY, Schuyler County, NY, Steuben County, NY, Sullivan County, NY, Tioga County, NY, Tompkins County, NY, Bedford County, PA, Blair County, PA, Bradford County, PA, Cambria County, PA, Cameron County, PA, Centre County, PA, Clearfield County, PA, Clinton County, PA, Columbia County, PA, Cumberland County, PA, Dauphin County, PA, Franklin County, PA, Fulton County, PA, Huntingdon County, PA, Indiana County, PA, Juniata County, PA, Lackawanna County, PA, Luzerne County, PA, Lycoming County, PA, Mifflin County, PA, Montour County, PA, Northumberland County, PA, Perry County, PA, Potter County, PA, Schuylkill County, PA, Snyder County, PA, Somerset County, PA, Sullivan County, PA, Susquehanna County, PA, Tioga County, PA, Union County, PA, Wayne County, PA, Westmoreland County, PA, Wyoming County, PA

The radar

The Binghamton radar (KBGM), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:36 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 watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

The nearest sounding before it

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 5.6 hours before the alert went out and 223 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 2011-09-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 220 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 2011-09-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 162 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
220 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-162 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
963 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
162 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
96 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

631 
ACUS11 KWNS 041733
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 041733 
NYZ000-PAZ000-041900-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 2121
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1233 PM CDT SUN SEP 04 2011

AREAS AFFECTED...PORTIONS OF NY AND PA

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH POSSIBLE 

VALID 041733Z - 041900Z

THE THREAT FOR SEVERE STORMS CAPABLE OF DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL IS
EXPECTED TO INCREASE THIS AFTERNOON AND CONVECTIVE TRENDS ARE BEING
MONITORED FOR A POSSIBLE WATCH.

THOUGH THE SYNOPTIC COLD FRONT REMAINS WEST OF REGIONAL...SURFACE
ANALYSIS AND VISIBLE SATELLITE INDICATE A NUMBER OF WEAK WIND
SHIFTS/OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES PRESENT ACROSS THE DISCUSSION AREA.  ONE
OF WHICH APPEARS TO BE SUPPORTING THE DEEPENING OF CUMULUS ACROSS
PARTS OF S-CNTRL NY /N AND E OF BGM/ INTO CNTRL PA /E OF UNV/. 
HERE...BREAKS IN THE CLOUDS HAVE ALLOWED TEMPERATURES TO WARM INTO
THE LOW-MID 80S...WHICH WHEN COUPLED WITH DEW POINTS IN THE UPPER
70S-LOWER 80S IS RESULTING IN MLCAPE VALUES OF AROUND 2000 J/KG AND
A WEAKENING CAP.

CURRENT THINKING IS THAT LOW-LEVEL ASCENT ALONG EXISTING SURFACE
BOUNDARIES AND GRADUAL INCREASE IN LARGE-SCALE FORCING AHEAD OF
UPSTREAM TROUGH WILL FOSTER MULTIPLE BANDS/CLUSTERS OF TSTMS THIS
AFTERNOON.  THE COMBINATION OF THE MODERATE INSTABILITY AND STEADILY
STRENGTHENING DEEP-LAYER WIND FIELD WILL BE SUPPORTIVE OF ORGANIZED
LINE SEGMENTS/BOWS CAPABLE OF DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL.

..MEAD.. 09/04/2011

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...ALY...PHI...BGM...BUF...CTP...PBZ...

LAT...LON   40407957 42657695 43987474 43407381 41917443 40587635
            39917736 39887898 40407957

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 4, 3:07 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllegany, Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Erie, Genesee, Livingston and 8 more83 min
Sep 4, 3:26 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAllegany, Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee and 16 more4 hr
Sep 4, 6:22 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCayuga, Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, Onondaga, Ontario and 4 more83 min
Sep 4, 2:43 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAlbany, Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Clinton and 30 more8 hr
Sep 4, 6:06 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlbany, Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Clinton and 30 more54 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Pennsylvania, 2011Mesoscale Discussions in New York, 2011Every mesoscale discussion in 2011

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.