Alert archive / West Virginia / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2013

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 32, NWS Pittsburgh, PA

May 21, 2013Washington County, Pennsylvania; Jefferson County, Ohio; Brooke County, Ohio County, West Virginia

NWS Pittsburgh, PA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 21, 2013, 8:49 PM EDT for Washington County, Pennsylvania; Jefferson County, Ohio; Brooke County, Ohio County, West Virginia. It was in force for 41 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
May 21, 2013, 8:49 PM EDT (00:49 UTC)
Expired
May 21, 2013, 9:30 PM EDT
In force
41 min
Issued by
NWS Pittsburgh, PA
Area
Storm-based polygon

Counties Jefferson County, OH, Washington County, PA, Brooke County, WV, Ohio County, WV

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 43 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:52 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.

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 Pittsburgh, PA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 21, 7:25 PM EDT, 1 hour 24 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 21, 7:25 PM EDT, 1 hour 24 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
725 PM EDT TUE MAY 21 2013

.SYNOPSIS...
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE MAINLY ACROSS
EASTERN OHIO THIS EVENING. INCREASING THUNDERSTORM CHANCES
WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES AND MOVES
ACROSS THE REGION. HIGH PRESSURE WILL RETURN FRIDAY.

&&

.NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM WEDNESDAY MORNING/...
ADJUSTED POPS DOWN A BIT AND REDUCED AREA OF CHANCE POPS THIS
EVENING TO EASTERN OHIO TOWARD I-79. APPEARS HI RES MODELS WERE
OVERDONE IN COMPLETELY BREAKING CAP ACROSS AREA...AND WHILE MUCAPE
IS OVER 2K MID LEVELS APPEAR A BIT WARM FOR DEEP CONVECTION.
STORMS HAVE PULSED ONLY FOR A TIME AND THEN WEAKEN. SCATTERED
STORMS WILL EVENTUALLY APPROACH PITTSBURGH METRO BUT LOOK TO BE
DYING AS THEY DO. ADJUSTED OVERNIGHT LOWS SLIGHTLY BASED ON DEW
POINT TRENDS.

&&

.SHORT TERM /6 AM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH FRIDAY/...
A VERY PRONOUNCED LOW LEVEL JET IS EVIDENT ON ALL GUIDANCE BY
WEDNESDAY MORNING NOSING INTO SOUTHWESTERN OHIO AHEAD OF AN
INCOMING UPPER LEVEL WAVE. GUIDANCE CONTINUES TO BE A BIT VARIED
ON ITS PLACEMENT AND EVOLUTION GOING INTO THE LATER MORNING
HOURS...HOWEVER ENOUGH GUIDANCE MEMBERS BRING IT INTO CENTRAL OHIO
BY LATE MORNING THAT THUNDERSTORMS MAY WELL DEVELOP ALONG THE NOSE
OF IT. IN CONJUNCTION...SEVERAL CONSECUTIVE NAM RUNS HAVE DEPICTED
A COMPACT SHORTWAVE EMBEDDED INTO THE SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW TO TRACK
OVER WESTERN AND CENTRAL OHIO FROM LATE MORNING THROUGH EARLY
AFTERNOON. AS THIS OCCURS...CONVECTION IS LIKELY TO BREAK OUT. IN
ADDITION...WITH CAPE VALUES AROUND 1500 J/KG AND STRONGER 0-6 KM
SHEAR LIKELY OVER OHIO THAN POINTS FARTHER EAST...BETTER CHANCES
OF THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT EXIST IN OHIO THAN THE REST OF THE
FORECAST AREA THROUGH MOST OF THE DAYTIME ON WEDNESDAY. WITH
DECENT MID-LEVEL SUPPORT AND SHEAR/INSTABILITY...DAMAGING WINDS
WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH ANY MULTI-CELLULAR DEVELOPMENT THAT DOES
OCCUR FROM LATE MORNING ONWARD IN OHIO...WITH A LESSER CHANCE
FARTHER EAST.

AS THE UPPER LEVEL WAVE TRACKS FARTHER EAST WEDNESDAY
EVENING...THE RIGHT ENTRANCE REGION OF THE UPPER JET TRACKS
DIRECTLY OVER THE CWA. WITH IS IN CONCERT WITH THE MAIN SYNOPTIC
WAVE PASSAGE ROUGHLY 06Z/2AM THROUGH PITTSBURGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT.
BOTH NAM AND ECMWF SOLUTIONS ARE SUGGESTIVE OF LINEAR DEVELOPMENT
ALONG THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY AS IT PASSES THROUGH THE AREA LATE
WEDNESDAY EVENING/NIGHT...RESULTING IN THE POSSIBILITY OF A SQUALL
LINE MANAGING TO PERSIST WELL PAST THE NORMAL DIURNALLY FAVORED
HOURS OWING TO LARGE SCALE SUPPORT FOR ASCENT. CHANCES OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS WITH DAMAGING WINDS WERE THUS ALLOWED TO SPREAD
ACROSS THE REST OF THE CWA FROM ROUGHLY 8 PM TO 3 AM AS THIS UPPER
WAVE PASSES THROUGH.

COLDER AIR FLOODS INTO THE AREA ON THURSDAY...HOWEVER WITH THE
MID-LEVELS COOLING MUCH QUICKER THAN THE LOW LEVELS...SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS WILL AGAIN BY POSSIBLE ACROSS THE AREA WITH SURFACE
TEMPERATURES MODERATING TOWARD 70F.

THE DUMP OF MUCH COLD AIR IS HELD BACK FOR A SECONDARY FRONTAL
PASSAGE ON FRIDAY WITH A WIDE SPREAD IN GUIDANCE FOR AFTERNOON
TEMPERATURES. ECMWF AND GFS 850 MB TEMPERATURES IN THE AFTERNOON
HOURS STRADDLE 0C...WHICH WOULD SUGGEST TEMPERATURES WOULD
STRUGGLE TO REACH 50F IF SUNSHINE FAILED TO MATERIALIZE. AT THE
MOMENT...IT WOULD SEEM MORE REASONABLE TO EXPECT AT LEAST SOME SUN
ON FRIDAY...SO HIGH TEMPERATURES WERE GENERALLY ADJUSTED FOR THE
MID 50S TO MID 60S ACROSS THE AREA. AS CONDITIONS CLEAR BY THE
AFTERNOON AND EVENING FRIDAY...COLD AIR ADVECTING INTO THE AREA
WILL LIKELY ALL FOR A VERY RAPID COOL OFF GOING INTO THE EVENING
AND POSSIBLY FROST BY THE OVERNIGHT. FRIES

&&

.LONG TERM /FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY/...
THE MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT ON THE OVERALL UPPER LEVEL PATTERN
THROUGH THE EXTENDED WITH AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGING OF THE CENTRAL
CONUS AND TROUGHING IN BOTH THE WEST AND EAST. WHILE THIS WOULD
GENERALLY LEAD TO A MUCH LESS THAN CONFIDENT FORECAST IN THE
SHORTWAVES WITHIN THE FLOW...THIS DOESN'T SEEM TO BE THE CASE AS
BOTH THE GFS AND ECMWF SUGGEST THAT MUCH OF THE PRECIPITATION WILL
BE SUPPRESSED SOUTH OF THE REGION THROUGH MUCH OF THE PERIOD.
THUS...OPTED TO TAKE A BLEND OF THE MODELS AND HPC
GUIDANCE. ALSO...HEDGED A BIT COOLER WITH TEMPERATURES WITH
NORTHWEST FLOW PRESENT ESPECIALLY FOR THE FIRST HALF OF THE
PERIOD. THIS KEPT TEMPERATURES BELOW SEASONAL AVERAGES SAT/SUN
BEFORE MODERATING CLOSER TO NORMAL FOR THE REST OF THE PERIOD.

&&

.AVIATION /23Z TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/...
VFR CONDS EXPD INTO THE NGT. ISOLD TSTMS IN CNTRL OH...BUT UPR AND
MID LVL RIDGE AND CAPPING LIMITING ACTIVITY. WL MONITOR TSTMS BUT
NOT PLANNING ON INCLUDING IN TAFS ATTM. A PD OF MVFR VIS IN BR
EXPD TWD SUNRISE THEN VFR RETURNS THRU ERLY AFTN. SCT TSTMS EXP
LATER IN THE AFTN AS A CDFNT BEGINS TO APRCH SO INCLUDED VCTS.

.OUTLOOK.../WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY/...
OCNL RESTRNS LIKELY WED EVE INTO THU NGT WITH SHWRS/TSTMS AS A
CDFNT APRCHS AND MOVES ACRS THE RGN. AN UPR LVL DISTURBANCE WL
BRING PSBL RESTRNS IN SHRA FRI BEFORE HIGH PRES AND VFR CONDS
RETURN FRI NGT THRU SUN.

&&

.PBZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MD...NONE.
OH...NONE.
PA...NONE.
WV...NONE.

&&
Hazardous weather outlook, May 21, 10:04 AM EDT, 10 hours 45 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA
1004 AM EDT TUE MAY 21 2013

MDZ001-OHZ039>041-048>050-057>059-068-069-PAZ007>009-013>016-020>023-
029-031-073>076-WVZ001>004-012-021>023-041-221415-
GARRETT-TUSCARAWAS-CARROLL-COLUMBIANA-COSHOCTON-HARRISON-
JEFFERSON OH-MUSKINGUM-GUERNSEY-BELMONT-NOBLE-MONROE-MERCER-VENANGO-
FOREST-LAWRENCE-BUTLER-CLARION-JEFFERSON PA-BEAVER-ALLEGHENY-
ARMSTRONG-INDIANA-WASHINGTON-GREENE-WESTMORELAND-WESTMORELAND RIDGES-
FAYETTE-FAYETTE RIDGES-HANCOCK-BROOKE-OHIO-MARSHALL-WETZEL-MARION-
MONONGALIA-PRESTON-TUCKER-
1004 AM EDT TUE MAY 21 2013

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WESTERN MARYLAND...EAST
CENTRAL OHIO...NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA...SOUTHWEST
PENNSYLVANIA...WEST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA...NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA
AND NORTHERN PANHANDLE OF WEST VIRGINIA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT.

HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY.

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ON WEDNESDAY. THE
MAIN THREAT WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 21, 7:42 PM EDT, 1 hour 7 minutes before
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The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 21, 8:36 PM EDTSpecial Weather StatementPBZWashington39 min
May 22, 3:26 PM EDTSpecial Weather StatementPBZGreene34 min
May 22, 4:04 PM EDTSpecial Weather StatementPBZFayette41 min
May 22, 4:38 PM EDTSpecial Weather StatementPBZJefferson37 min
May 22, 5:22 PM EDTSpecial Weather StatementPBZBeaver, Butler38 min
May 22, 5:52 PM EDTSpecial Weather StatementPBZWashington38 min
May 22, 5:57 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPBZAllegheny, Beaver, Washington48 min
May 22, 6:07 PM EDTSpecial Weather StatementPBZButler53 min
May 22, 6:27 PM EDTSpecial Weather StatementPBZWestmoreland48 min
May 22, 1:58 PM EDTSpecial Weather StatementPBZMonroe47 min
May 22, 2:50 PM EDTSpecial Weather StatementPBZMarshall40 min
May 22, 3:19 PM EDTSpecial Weather StatementPBZMonongalia41 min
May 22, 5:13 PM EDTSpecial Weather StatementPBZMarshall47 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in West Virginia, 2013Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pennsylvania, 2013Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Ohio, 2013Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2013

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.