Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 27

January 17, 201210 counties in New York; 13 counties in Pennsylvania

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Jan 17, 2012, 5:37 PM EST for 10 counties in New York; 13 counties in Pennsylvania. It was in force for 113 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jan 17, 2012, 5:37 PM EST (22:37 UTC)
Expired
Jan 17, 2012, 7:30 PM EST
In force
113 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 23 counties

Allegany County, NY, Cattaraugus County, NY, Chautauqua County, NY, Erie County, NY, Genesee County, NY, Livingston County, NY, Monroe County, NY, Ontario County, NY, Orleans County, NY, Wyoming County, NY, Armstrong County, PA, Beaver County, PA, Butler County, PA, Clarion County, PA, Crawford County, PA, Elk County, PA, Forest County, PA, Jefferson County, PA, Lawrence County, PA, McKean County, PA, Mercer County, PA, Venango County, PA, Warren County, PA

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 101 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:39 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

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 100 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 2012-01-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 2012-01-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 218 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
479 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
64 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
218 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
321 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.

095 
ACUS11 KWNS 172238
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 172237
NYZ000-PAZ000-WVZ000-OHZ000-180030-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0027
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0437 PM CST TUE JAN 17 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...SWRN NY...NWRN PA...E-CNTRL OH...FAR NRN PANHANDLE
OF WRN WV

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH POSSIBLE

VALID 172237Z - 180030Z

TSTMS MAY PRODUCE SVR WIND GUSTS INTO THE EVENING ACROSS WRN
NY...NWRN PA...E-CNTRL OH...AND THE FAR NRN PANHANDLE OF WRN WV.
CONVECTIVE TRENDS WILL CONTINUE TO BE MONITORED FOR A POSSIBLE WW.

DESPITE VERY MARGINAL ELEVATED INSTABILITY ROOTED AROUND 850 MB PER
RUC SOUNDINGS...STRONG FRONTAL CONVERGENCE CONTINUES MAINTAINING A
LINE OF LOW-TOPPED SHOWERS AND TSTMS FROM NEAR ERIE PA SSWWD INTO
E-CNTRL OH. THIS ACTIVITY WILL CONTINUE TO PUSH ENEWD ACROSS PARTS
OF THE GREAT LAKES REGION INTO THE EVENING HOURS. A THREAT FOR SVR
WIND GUSTS WILL OCCUR OWING TO DOWNWARD MOMENTUM TRANSPORT IN
STRONGER CONVECTIVE ELEMENTS...WITH BUFFALO VWP DATA INDICATING
55-60 KT OF WSWLY FLOW IN THE 0.25-1-KM-AGL LAYER.
ALREADY...OBSERVED WIND GUSTS REACHING/EXCEEDING SVR CRITERIA HAVE
BEEN NOTED AROUND ASHTABULA AND CLEVELAND IN ASSOCIATION WITH THIS
ACTIVITY. FURTHERMORE...STRONG PRESSURE RISES OF 5 TO 7.5 MB PER 2
HRS HAVE BEEN NOTED ACROSS N-CNTRL OH...WITH THE ATTENDANT
ISALLOBARIC RESPONSE ALSO EXPECTED TO MAINTAIN STRONG BACKGROUND
FLOW AUGMENTING CONVECTIVELY INFLUENCED WIND GUSTS. AFTER
01Z...NOCTURNAL STABILIZATION COULD BEGIN TO MITIGATE THE SVR
POTENTIAL TO SOME DEGREE.

..COHEN.. 01/17/2012

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

ATTN...WFO...BGM...BUF...CTP...PBZ...CLE...

LAT...LON   42247973 42887894 43417826 43567725 42817697 40877893
            40448043 40888075 41548034 42247973

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Pennsylvania, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in New York, 2012Every mesoscale discussion in 2012

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.