Pennsylvania's Big Severe Weather Week
Severe weather came back with a vengeance last week in the state of Pennsylvania; this image from IEM COW shows all Flood, Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm warnings, along with NWS Spotter reports of wind, hail, and tornadoes.
The culprit? A stalled cold front on which impulses kept riding from the Midwest through New England. All told, from the severe weather offices that issue warnings for Pennsylvania, these were the stats for the week:
- 139 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings - 25 Tornado Warnings - 21 Flood Warnings
My local storm action started with the severe thunderstorm with a Tornado Warning and downed power poles here in Central PA Wednesday the 21st, for which I have already posted pictures and video. The NWS in State College also has a page with radar and satellite images from that night.
Friday night 7/23, it was like deja vu! Again the storms moved southeastward through the eastern part of Centre County. I got two (count 'em, two) incredible rainbows and some other great storm shots:
The timing and location was nearly identical! You can also see from the weekly image at the top how many times the eastern part of our county (and surrounding area) was hit with warnings.
On Saturday the 24th, I chased all evening here in Centre County with Local storm chaser Ron "R-Factor" Shawley, but we never saw much of interest. There was some lightning with the storms as they approached, but most of it was hidden inside the clouds. In northern Pennsylvania, however, a tornado was confirmed near Galeton in Potter County; the NWS has radar images of the storm, including velocity images like the one below, showing the rotation in the storm.
In Lancaster County Sunday 7/25, a funnel cloud was sighted but damage was determined to be straight-line winds. Kelly A. from the Pennsylvania Storm Chasers Facebook Group said:
Pictures posted to the Facebook Group included lightning, storm clouds, damage, and rainbows. More photos and video are available from WGAL. In the "suspicious clouds" video, I did not see anything to indicate a funnel cloud. I've been that close to a funnel before and the rotation was rapid, like a blender. The NWS from State College has assembled a page showing radar images from these storms.
