Thursday's Severe Weather

Storms moved through around 5 & 6 AM Thursday morning.
Radar image at 5 AM.
Plymouth State

The second round of storms began around 2 PM.
A line of severe storms pushed through the county
and took down some trees, leaving many in the dark.
At one point, a tornado warning was issued but
nothing was reported or spotted.
Radar image at 2 PM.
Plymouth State.

Power outages earlier today. Much of Eastern Crawford
was left in the dark after the storms rolled through.
Franklin and Oil City areas were also hit hard.

Well, as forecasted, Thursday turned out to be an eventful day. Storms moved through early Thursday morning around 5 & 6 AM but were not as strong as initially feared. They lost much of their energy due to overnight cooling of the surface and didn't really pack too much of a punch as they went through.  That wasn't really the big concern for the day though. What forecasters had on their mind was the approaching warm front and developing low level jet that would intensify during the afternoon hours. With mainly cloudless skies, many locations across PA warmed up quickly in the morning hours and a southerly flow pumped dew points into the lower 70s.  Two things that storms feed off of, high dew points and warm surface temperatures, helped set up a severe weather scenario for much of the state.  It wasn't no surprise when a line of storms began to form around 1 and 2 PM in NE OH.  As these storms moved through, they took down a few trees around the county and even put many people in the dark.  A wind gust of 70 mph was reported in Jamestown, PA...according to AccuWeather. CrawfordWeather.com lost many graphics and pages due to the 5 hour power outage in the Townville area.  Many people east of Meadville were without power for much of the afternoon.  These storms also showed signs of rotation and at one point a tornado warning was issued for Southern Crawford County, based off of radar indicated rotation (no funnels or tornadoes were ever reported or confirmed in Crawford County). However as this storm moved into Venango County, it took down many more trees along its path, especially in the Franklin and Oil City area. A wind gust of 48 mph was reported at the airport near Franklin around 2:15 PM. Later on it would produce a funnel cloud and even a possible tornado in the Brookville area.  Still waiting to hear confirmation on that one.  This line would continue on through Pennsylvania causing havoc in many other areas, knocking down trees, and causing power outages. 

Power outages for Penn Power, Penelec at 11 PM Thursday
night. Any county in color is experiencing outages.
Penelec

According to the SPC Storm reports page, only one tornado was officially confirmed. That one occurred in Southern NY, near the PA border.  The one in Brookville has yet to be confirmed.  All in all it was an eventful day.  I think forecasters got this one right by putting our area in a moderate risk for severe storms.  All these storms started in NE OH and NW PA and caused destruction all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. Many people still do not have power across Pennsyvlania. Pretty crazy day.  Looking on the better side of today, at least we got some rain to help lessen the drought.

SPC Storm Reports.  Many places experienced gusty winds
while one tornado was officially confirmed in Southern NY.