Alert archive / Pennsylvania / Mesoscale Discussions in 2016

Mesoscale Discussion 4

January 8, 201613 counties in New York; 15 counties in Pennsylvania

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Jan 8, 2016, 2:39 PM EST for 13 counties in New York; 15 counties in Pennsylvania. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jan 8, 2016, 2:39 PM EST (19:39 UTC)
Expired
Jan 8, 2016, 7:45 PM EST
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 28 counties

Allegany County, NY, Cattaraugus County, NY, Chautauqua County, NY, Chemung County, NY, Livingston County, NY, Ontario County, NY, Schuyler County, NY, Seneca County, NY, Steuben County, NY, Tioga County, NY, Tompkins County, NY, Wyoming County, NY, Yates County, NY, Bradford County, PA, Cameron County, PA, Centre County, PA, Clearfield County, PA, Clinton County, PA, Elk County, PA, Forest County, PA, Jefferson County, PA, Lycoming County, PA, McKean County, PA, Potter County, PA, Sullivan County, PA, Tioga County, PA, Union County, PA, Warren County, PA

The radar

The State College radar (KCCX), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:39 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, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 140 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 2016-01-08Temperature 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 2016-01-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 86 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
3387 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
86 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
117 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

406 
ACUS11 KWNS 081939
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 081939 
NYZ000-PAZ000-090045-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0004
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0139 PM CST FRI JAN 08 2016

AREAS AFFECTED...PORTIONS OF CNTRL/NRN PA AND SRN NY

CONCERNING...FREEZING RAIN 

VALID 081939Z - 090045Z

SUMMARY...PRECIPITATION WILL OVERSPREAD THE AREA LATER THIS
AFTERNOON INTO THE EARLY EVENING. AREAS OF FREEZING RAIN WITH RATES
OF 0.05 INCH PER 3 HOURS WILL BE POSSIBLE INTO THE EVENING HOURS.

DISCUSSION...MOSAIC RADAR IMAGERY AND SFC OBSERVATIONS INDICATE A
SHIELD OF PRECIPITATION EXTENDING FROM LOWER MI SEWD ACROSS LAKE
ERIE TO THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY...SPREADING NEWD. THIS ACTIVITY IS IN
ASSOCIATION WITH A PLUME OF LOW-LEVEL WARM ADVECTION PRECEDING
ILL-PHASED SHORTWAVE TROUGHS EXTENDING FROM THE MID-MS VALLEY TO THE
MID-ATLANTIC. DESPITE NEAR/ABOVE-FREEZING SFC TEMPERATURES IN MANY
AREAS ACROSS THE REGION...DEWPOINTS IN THE TEENS AND 20S SUGGEST
THAT WET-BULB COOLING WILL OCCUR. GIVEN WET-BULB SFC TEMPERATURES
BELOW 32F...THE POTENTIAL FOR FREEZING RAIN WILL EXIST AS LOW-LEVEL
SATURATION OCCURS BEHIND THE LEADING EDGE OF THE PRECIPITATION-
RELATED REFLECTIVITY SHIELD. THE POTENTIAL FOR FREEZING RAIN WILL
MOST LIKELY SPREAD ACROSS THE REGION IN THE 21Z-01Z TIME FRAME...AND
CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING HOURS. WHILE WARMING OF THE LOW-LEVEL
THERMAL PROFILE IS EXPECTED IN THE WARM-ADVECTION PATTERN...SUCH
WARMING WILL BE OFFSET BY INITIAL EVAPORATION-RELATED COOLING TO
KEEP SFC TEMPERATURES BELOW 32F IN MANY AREAS -- PARTICULARLY IN
SHELTERED VALLEYS -- INTO THE EVENING HOURS. PRECIPITATION WILL
GENERALLY BE LIGHT...WITH FREEZING-RAIN RATES OF 0.05 INCH PER 3
HOURS POSSIBLE.

..COHEN.. 01/08/2016

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

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

LAT...LON   41227933 41647982 42147981 42727888 42957774 42777640
            42477598 41607601 41077676 40777754 40777838 41227933

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Pennsylvania, 2016Mesoscale Discussions in New York, 2016Every mesoscale discussion in 2016

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.