Scattered severe thunderstorms broke out across central Pennsylvania well in advance of a cold front which was approaching from the Ohio Valley during the evening of June 28th.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS CTP wrote it up.
Scattered severe thunderstorms broke out across central Pennsylvania well in advance of a cold front which was approaching from the Ohio Valley during the evening of June 28th.
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 Jun 28, 2:53 PM EST, 1 hour 57 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 353 PM EDT SAT JUN 28 2008 .SYNOPSIS... A COLD FRONT APPROACHING FROM THE OHIO VALLEY WILL SUPPORT SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH SUNDAY. A DEEP UPPER LEVEL TROF WILL SETTLE INTO THE REGION MONDAY AND TUESDAY WITH TEMPERATURES COOLING TO NEAR OR BELOW NORMAL. ANOTHER COLD FRONT IS FORECAST TO AFFECT THE AREA BY THE END OF NEXT WEEK. && .NEAR TERM /UNTIL 8 PM THIS EVENING/... S/W RIDGING AND EARLIER CLOUD COVER HAS LIMITED OVERALL INSTABILITY ACROSS CENTRAL PA THIS AFTN. HOWEVER...A MORE UNSTABLE AIRMASS IS ADVECTING IN FROM THE S/W. CONTINUED HEATING OF A MOIST BLYR SHOULD LEAD TO SCT CONVECTION BY THE LATE AFTN/EARLY EVE OUT AHEAD OF A CLD FNT MOVG EWD THRU THE OH VLY. MOD RISK AREA IS CONFINED TO THE UPR OH VLY...HOWEVER SUFFICIENT WINDS ALOFT AND STEEPENING LLVL LAPSE RATES WILL CONT TO SUPPORT SLGT RISK OF SEVERE STORMS. && .SHORT TERM /8 PM THIS EVENING THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT/... ANY SCT EVE CONVECTION SHOULD GRADUALLY WEAKEN AND DECREASE IN CVRG TONIGHT...WITH SOME CLEARING POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT. MUGGY/HIGH DEWPOINT AIRMASS WILL KEEP MINS 5-10F ABOVE NORMAL AND MAY LEAD TO PATCHY FOG. SURFACE LOW PRES ASSOC WITH A VIGOROUS UPPER LEVEL TROF OVR THE GLKS WILL OCCLD OVR SERN CANADA EARLY SUNDAY...WITH THE BEST HEIGHT FALLS MOVG INTO THE ST LAWRENCE RVR VLY. THE TRAILING CLD FNT AT 12Z SHOULD EXTEND FM THE LWR GLKS/NW PA SWWD BACK INTO THE UPR OH VLY. THIS FNT WILL MOVE SLOWLY EWD INTO CENTRAL PA AS THE ASSOCD H5 TROF CONTINUES TO DIG/SHARPEN. CLOUD DEBRIS FROM ANY UPSTREAM/OVERNIGHT CONVECTION WILL LKLY LIMIT INSTABILITY EARLY SUNDAY AS THE CLD FNT PUSHES EWD ACROSS THE STATE. HOWEVER...RICH BLYR MSTR /SFC DEWPOINTS NR 70F/ MAY LEAD TO MODERATE INSTABILITY ALG/AHEAD OF THE CLD FNT WHERE SUFFICIENT HEATING CAN OCCUR - MAINLY OVER PORTIONS OF ERN PA. WHILE THE STRONGEST VERTICAL WIND SHEAR WILL BE POST-FRONTAL...A MORE THAN ADEQUATE AND MAINLY UNIDIRECTIONAL DEEP LYR WIND FLOW WILL OVERSPREAD THE REGION BY THE AFTN. IN ADDITION...THE LOW LEVEL WINDS /LLJ/ IS FORECAST TO STRENGTHEN TO +1 TO 2 SD ABOVE NORMAL PER LATEST SREF GUID. THIS MAY CONTRIBUTE TO THE POTENTIAL FOR ROTATING STORMS. THE PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL CONTINUE TO BE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS. QPF WISE...THERE IS SOME POTENTIAL FOR LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN GIVEN FAVORABLE DIV ALOFT IN THE ENT REGION OF A 100KT JET...FNTL FORCING AND A NARROW RIBBON OF ABV NORMAL PW/S. GRIDDED QPF AMTS CONSTRUCTED FROM AN HPC/SREF MEAN BLEND ARE GENERALLY ON THE ORDER OF 0.25-0.50...BUT LOCALIZED AMTS OVER 1 WILL BE PSBL. && .LONG TERM /MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY/... LARGE SCALE FLOW PATTERN BECOMES HIGHLY AMPLIFIED BY NEXT WEEK...WITH UPPER LEVEL RIDGING BUILDING ACROSS WRN NOAM AND A DEEP ANOMALOUS TROF TAKING HOLD ACROSS MUCH OF THE ERN U.S. OPERATIONAL MODELS AND ENS CONTINUE TO BE IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH RESPECT TO THE LONG WAVE PATTERN. COLD AIR ALOFT MAY LEAD TO SOME DIURNAL RW/TRW EARLY NEXT WEEK BEFORE HIGH PRES BUILDS IN FOR TUE- WED. THE NEXT FNT IS FCST TO AFFECT THE AREA THUR-FRI AS IT SAGS SWD AHEAD OF THE NEXT CANADIAN TROF. TEMPS WILL START OUT COOLER THAN NORMAL EARLY NEXT WEEK BEFORE RETURNING TO MORE SEASONABLE LEVELS. && .AVIATION /20Z SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/... VFR CONDS WITH CU/TCU AND DVLPG -TSHRAS ACROSS CENTRAL PA THIS AFTN. SCT -TSHRAS BRFLY LWRG CONDS TO MVFR/IFR. STG TSTMS EXPECTED WRN AREAS TWDS ERY EVENING WITH STG SFC WND GSTS. AREAS OF TSHRS/RSHWRS OVRNGT IN CENTRAL PA LWRG CONDS TO MVFR IN CIGS HIR TRRN AND HAZE/FOG AFTER MIDNIGHT. A COLD FRONT WILL CROSS THE REGION SUNDAY...AGAIN TRIGGERING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. BEHIND THE FRONT...FOR THE FIRST HALF OF THE WEEK SCATTERED...MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHRA/TSRA. EXPECT GENERALLY VFR CONDITIONS OUTSIDE OF PCPN DURING THE DAYTIME HOURS MON AND TUE. THEN LOWER VSBY CONDITIONS WILL FOLLOW FOR THE OVERNIGHT PERIODS IN AREAS THAT SEE DAYTIME CONVECTION. SFC HIGH PRESSURE MAY SPELL A PCPN FREE DAY ON WEDNESDAY. A COLD FRONT ON THU MAY SPONSOR MORE SHWRS. && .CTP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SYNOPSIS...STEINBUGL NEAR TERM...STEINBUGL SHORT TERM...STEINBUGL LONG TERM...STEINBUGL AVIATION...BUDD
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA 514 AM EDT SAT JUN 28 2008 PAZ004>006-010>012-017>019-024>028-033>037-041-042-045-046-049>053- 056>059-063>066-290915- WARREN-MCKEAN-POTTER-ELK-CAMERON-NORTHERN CLINTON-CLEARFIELD- NORTHERN CENTRE-SOUTHERN CENTRE-CAMBRIA-BLAIR-HUNTINGDON-MIFFLIN- JUNIATA-SOMERSET-BEDFORD-FULTON-FRANKLIN-TIOGA-NORTHERN LYCOMING- SULLIVAN-SOUTHERN CLINTON-SOUTHERN LYCOMING-UNION-SNYDER-MONTOUR- NORTHUMBERLAND-COLUMBIA-PERRY-DAUPHIN-SCHUYLKILL-LEBANON-CUMBERLAND- ADAMS-YORK-LANCASTER- 514 AM EDT SAT JUN 28 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS ALL OF CENTRAL PENNYSLVANIA TODAY. THE GREATEST THREAT FROM ANY STORMS WILL BE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS. ISOLATED SEVERE HAIL IS ALSO POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY A SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA ON SUNDAY....CONTINUING A THREAT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TODAY...ESPECIALLY THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. GARTNER
The State College radar (KCCX), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:52 UTC.
4 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds knocked down trees 3 miles north-northwest of Weyant.
Thunderstorm winds knocked down numerous trees in Warren.
Thunderstorm winds knocked down trees in Bradford.
Thunderstorm winds knocked down trees and wires 3 miles east-northeast of Sunbury.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Pennsylvania in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Pennsylvania, June 2008
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: 98848, 98849, 98850, 98851.