Name: Damaging Wind in Pennsylvania, August 1, 2002
Start: 2002-08-01T18:48
End: 2002-08-01T18:48
Location: Pennsylvania

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS State College, PA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 1, 2:22 PM EST, 4 hours 26 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 1, 2:22 PM EST, 4 hours 26 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA
322 PM EDT THU AUG 1 2002

SOME CU BUILDING UP AT THE MOMENT...BUT OVERALL AFTERNOON IS QUIETER
THAN EXPECTED OVER CENTRAL PA.  SOME SHOWERS APPEAR TO BE GETTING
GOING ALONG THE PA/NJ BORDER...BUT NO RAIN ELSEWHERE THUS FAR.
STILL PLAN TO CARRY 20 POPS INTO EARLY THIS EVENING OVER THE NORTH
BUT DRY ELSEWHERE.

H5 RIDGE FLATTENS MORE ON FRIDAY IN RESPONSE TO SEVERAL WEAK
SHORTWAVES RIDING THROUGH THE FLOW NEAR THE CANADIAN BORDER.  LAYER
PWS INCREASE TO OVER 1.5 DURING THE AFTERNOON...SO SCATTERED
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS APPEAR TO BE A BETTER BET AS A WEAK
BOUNDARY SLIDES ACROSS THE REGION.  SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL
LAST INTO SATURDAY AS THE BOUNDARY PUSHES SOUTHWARD...AND EVENTUALLY
GETS HUNG UP OVER THE SOUTHERN THIRD OF PA KEEPING SHOWERS GOING
THERE AT LEAST FOR THE MORNING HOURS ON SAT.

H5 RIDGE STRONGLY BUILDS AGAIN ON SATURDAY FOR A CONT OF QUITE WARM
CONDITIONS...BUT LAYER PWS DECREASE SO HUMIDITY LEVEL SHOULD DROP
SLIGHTLY AS SFC HIGH PRESSURE SETTLES SOUTHWARD OVER SOUTHERN
ONTARIO.  BIG RIDGE BREAKS DOWN AGAIN SOMEWHAT BY MONDAY WITH SHOWER
CHANCES RETURNING AND CONTINUING INTO THE MIDDLE PART OF NEXT WEEK.
NO BIG COOL DOWNS IN SIGHT.

FCSTID = 7
MDT   72  95  70  90 /  20  20  40  30
IPT   70  92  66  87 /  20  30  40  20
BFD   67  88  59  81 /  20  30  30  20
JST   70  87  66  82 /  20  30  30  20
AOO   70  91  66  86 /  20  30  30  20
UNV   70  92  66  86 /  20  30  30  20
SEG   70  92  66  87 /  20  30  40  20
LNS   72  94  70  90 /  20  20  40  30
THV   72  94  70  90 /  20  20  40  30

.CTP...
PA...NONE.

DEVOIR

The radar

The Pittsburgh radar (KPBZ), 130 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:50 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Somerset

When: August 1, 6:48 PM EST
Where: Somerset County, Salisbury
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 39.750, -79.083

Several trees and power lines were down.

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Pennsylvania, August 2002

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5311588.