A Mighty Wind

Thunderstorms are common in the summer but a wall-to-wall severe weather event where everyone gets in on the action usually only happens once a summer. Today was that day in Pennsylvania.

I was lucky enough to arrive at work today (3 PM) to see that severe thunderstorms were plowing east toward Pennsylvania from the Cleveland area. Once we saw a report of tennis ball size hail near Akron, OH, we knew it would be a busy shift.

Imagine a ball of ice this size bouncing off of your car.

A potent cold front moving from the Great Lakes caused all of the severe weather. Temperatures made it to 90 degrees almost everywhere in the state today along with dewpoints in the upper 60's to low 70's. The cold front acted like a snow shovel pushing the warm humid air up into the atmosphere and a solid line of thunderstorms developed.

Sites like this were common around the state as many areas saw their first 90-degree day.

A NASA satellite image around 2:30 PM showing the cold front between Lake Erie and Lake Michigan. Picture a big snow shovel pushing that warm humid air up to the top of the atmosphere. Pennsylvania is just to right of the mass of clouds. It's just a matter of time...

Here's what the thunderstorms looked like from up above. Notice the flat part near the top of the storm. That is the top of the atmosphere (tropopause) which acts like a lid. Only the cream of the crop storms make it higher than this.

We issued warnings for every county as the storms approached and received many reports of wind damage - large trees blown over and damage to houses and buildings. Flooding was limited as the storms moved very quickly so the heavy rain didn't stay over one area for too long. We were a little surprised that there wasn't more hail. Especially after the report near Akron earlier in the day.

A look at the radar as the storms moved through central Pennsylvania.

The satellite/lightning composite image shows how far the front stretched into the Carolinas.

If you care, check back and I'll post more information as the damage survey is completed.

"I don't think the heavy stuff's gonna come down for quite a while..."

Happy Valley

Before I get into all of the happenings. I wanted to give those of you not familiar with State College, Penn State, or central Pennsylvania, a look at the local area. The first few posts will get you situated with the town that was developed, and has grown, around Penn State University. I figured that writing about the local area will also help me discover a few things that I didn't know. The weather has been beautiful the past few days so I packed up the kids and the camera and hit the streets and back roads. Wait...most of the roads in these parts are back roads.

The landscape of central Pennsylvania looking toward State College and Mt. Nittany - the most recognizable landmark in Penn State. The town of State College sits right near the base of Mt. Nittany but is hidden in this picture by the terrain. This picture was taken along Fox Hill road near the airport. One of the advantages of bicycling around the area is being able to see these views. They are easy to miss zooming around in the car.

Here is a close up of Mt. Nittany from much closer to town. Even this close, the houses and subdivisions are barely visible. Trust me, they are there.

This is a site you don't see very often in State College - bumper to bumper traffic. This picture was taken during rush hour in Pittsburgh along the Parkway East while driving back home to central PA on Monday.





This is a more common site. Expansion plans often outpace reality and you may just find yourself near the entrance to a bypass not yet built.




Take any suburb of a large city and you have State College. But with State College, you don't actually have the large city nearby. What you do have is a major university that brings in 40,000 students for most of the year to support all of your favorite stores, eateries, concerts, etc. A big, small town. Here we see that Lynyrd Skynyrd will be in town at the Bryce Jordan Center which is an 18,000 seat arena named after the president of Penn State University (1983-1990)

On any given day, you will see individuals expressing their right to free speech on causes from both ends of the political spectrum. Ironically, this group is from the local chapter of the young-at-heart Republicans.




Parking around the university is always a challenge. Pretty much any open space on university grounds has some type of restriction on parking availability. You better have one of these stickers or you'll be visiting one of the local towing operators with an open wallet. Around the town of State College, there are plenty of spaces when the students aren't in class and even a few parking garages. During an event weekend, all of those spaces are gone and people try to get creative. It is a heyday for the local towing operators who can't tow 'em fast enough.

Penn State was founded as an agricultural university and that is still prevalent all around the area. Established right in the middle of Pennsylvania farm country, State College has all the agriculture you can handle within a few miles of the town center. These cows are affectionately called "Hospital Cows" as this field is adjacent to the Mt. Nittany Medical Center.