Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 921

May 27, 20125 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at May 27, 2012, 1:41 PM EDT for 5 states. It was in force for 64 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 27, 2012, 1:41 PM EDT (17:41 UTC)
Expired
May 27, 2012, 2:45 PM EDT
In force
64 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Chance of a watch
20%
All 36 counties

Allegany County, MD, Garrett County, MD, Washington County, MD, Jefferson County, OH, Allegheny County, PA, Bedford County, PA, Blair County, PA, Cambria County, PA, Cumberland County, PA, Fayette County, PA, Franklin County, PA, Fulton County, PA, Greene County, PA, Huntingdon County, PA, Indiana County, PA, Juniata County, PA, Mifflin County, PA, Perry County, PA, Somerset County, PA, Washington County, PA, Westmoreland County, PA, Frederick County, VA, Berkeley County, WV, Brooke County, WV, Grant County, WV, Hampshire County, WV, Hancock County, WV, Hardy County, WV, Marion County, WV, Mineral County, WV, Monongalia County, WV, Morgan County, WV, Ohio County, WV, Preston County, WV, Taylor County, WV, Tucker County, WV

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 121 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:44 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

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 5.7 hours before the alert went out and 105 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 2012-05-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 993 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 2012-05-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 46 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
993 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-88 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1085 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
46 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
47 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.

811 
ACUS11 KWNS 271742
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 271741
PAZ000-MDZ000-WVZ000-VAZ000-OHZ000-271845-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0921
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1241 PM CDT SUN MAY 27 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...SWRN/S CNTRL PA...ERN OH...ERN PANHANDLE OF
WV...WRN MD

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH UNLIKELY

VALID 271741Z - 271845Z

PROBABILITY OF WATCH ISSUANCE...20 PERCENT

SUMMARY...PULSE SEVERE STORMS CAPABLE OF DMGG WINDS...HAIL...AND
HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BECOME POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON.

DISCUSSION...CONVECTIVE INITIATION HAS OCCURRED INVOF THE
ALLEGHENIES AND A STATIONARY FRONT ACROSS PORTIONS OF SRN PA AND WRN
MD. COVERAGE WILL LIKELY INCREASE BY MID AFTERNOON WITH THE APPROACH
OF A CONVECTIVELY INDUCED VORT MAX OVER SRN ONTARIO. WITH AN
UNCAPPED AND MODERATELY UNSTABLE AIR MASS...MORE VIGOROUS UPDRAFTS
MAY OCCUR COINCIDENT WITH THE APPROACHING UPPER WAVE. HAIL IS
POSSIBLE WITH THE STRONGER CORES AND DMGG WINDS /LOCALLY ENHANCED BY
STEEPENING LOW-LEVEL LAPSE RATES/ MAY OCCUR WITH COLLAPSING STORMS.
HOWEVER...WITH THE STRONGER DEEP-LAYER SHEAR REMAINING TO THE N OF
THE AREA...CONVECTION WILL GENERALLY BE SOMEWHAT DISORGANIZED AND
BRIEF IN NATURE. HEAVY RAINFALL IS PROBABLE GIVEN SLOW STORM MOTION
AND WELL ABOVE NORMAL PWAT VALUES.

..HURLBUT/CARBIN.. 05/27/2012

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

ATTN...WFO...CTP...LWX...PBZ...RLX...

LAT...LON   40627996 40747800 40647711 40187700 39527768 39087847
            38667916 38807963 39338009 40108083 40578077 40627996

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 27, 6:34 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllegany, Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Howard and 3 more56 min
May 27, 12:56 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAshtabula, Geauga, Lake, Mahoning, Trumbull64 min
May 27, 1:33 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAshtabula, Carroll, Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Harrison and 8 more5 hr
May 27, 4:12 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Blair, Butler, Cambria and 18 more63 min
May 27, 5:21 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAdams, Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Centre, Clearfield and 21 more4 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Pennsylvania, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in West Virginia, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Maryland, 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.