Central PA Spring 2026 Discussion/Obs Thread

[TheDreamTraveler]

3 minutes ago, canderson said:

No wind at all with the passage. Not even heavy rain. 

Some thunder and one super local single lighting strike. 

Wind is picking up now it’s moving out. 

I had some of the heaviest rain I've seen in a while with that storm just a little bit ago. Wild that you didn't get anything heavy considering you're like 7ish minutes from me. But yeah I didn't notice any wind at all either. Just one massive thing of thunder that shook the house and that was kinda it.

[canderson]

Storm is moving N at 65 mph and still didn’t mix down the high shear we have overhead. Interesting. 

Boundary level rules again. 

[Yardstickgozinya]

For anybody who's interested ,If you go back at the last graphic, I posted, and you look down at the Florida panhandle, you'll notice that vorticity, bullseye, of what appears to be 6 and 3 cape bullseye of 175kjg. If those two were to lineup over top of each other that's what you don't want to see  .  I'm not saying that that's what's going to happen down there.It's just close enough to overlapping to  uses as an example. I realized that there's more  than surface cape to be looking over but when you already know, you have everything else including the storm's that's where your eyes should be. 

 

[canderson]

.35” rain, sun is back out. We’ll see later how the actual front comes though. 

[Yardstickgozinya]

9 minutes ago, canderson said:

Storm is moving N at 65 mph and still didn’t mix down the high shear we have overhead. Interesting. 

Boundary level rules again. 

 

13 minutes ago, TheDreamTraveler said:

I had some of the heaviest rain I've seen in a while with that storm just a little bit ago. Wild that you didn't get anything heavy considering you're like 7ish minutes from me. But yeah I didn't notice any wind at all either. Just one massive thing of thunder that shook the house and that was kinda it.

I got it pretty good as far as  garden variety thunderstorm. Heavy rain for about 20 minutes ,six or seven strokes of lightning, and maybe 20 mile per hour gust.  

[Yardstickgozinya]

Sun is baking here.I'm not so sure we're done yet.  

[WmsptWx]

Sun is popping out back this way. 

[Jns2183]

I was just thinking about this myself last night. Not all but some of the best thunderstorms i've experienced have came on days and nights when they're not even calling for for anythings due to lack of forcing mechanisms. Those are the days we bake and build cape under a weak cap until the afternoon. We actually also seem to be very prone to collapsing thunderstorms, in this general area and those can actually be fun. Lol

5/26/2011 I believe was the date. I was in Carlisle then. I ordered radar from inventory. Hopefully will have in an hour

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[WmsptWx]

Yes, it was May 26, 2011. I just went back in time on my social media to confirm.

[Mount Joy Snowman]

Round one in the books here, quite garden variety but I was positioned well with the orientation of the line to squeeze what looks to be about a half inch out of it.  No signs of sun out this way today.

[Jns2183]

Sun is baking here.I'm not so sure we're done yet.  

Here is a link to the raw base reflectivity files. You have to follow the directions below the view them and I can't until I get back home today. It's a bit of a process.
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/has/HAS012685643/0001/

Link above is the directory to them I'm hoping to have the velocity ones a bit later

Since these are raw data files, you will need one of the following free tools to view the actual radar images:
NOAA Weather and Climate Toolkit (Recommended): This is the official software from NOAA. It is a Java-based desktop app that allows you to drag and drop these files and turn them into maps, animations, or even export them as Google Earth (KML) files.
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/weather-climate-toolkit

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[Itstrainingtime]

1 minute ago, Mount Joy Snowman said:

Round one in the books here, quite garden variety but I was positioned well with the orientation of the line to squeeze what looks to be about a half inch out of it.  No signs of sun out this way today.

Just 0.16" at home. 

[Jns2183]

Yes, it was May 26, 2011. I just went back in time on my social media to confirm.

I never saw such green sky or have such an feeling something was off. But I was young and dumb so of course I stayed on a porch and watched funnel go pretty damn close above me. It touched down not long after

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[Mount Joy Snowman]

7 minutes ago, WmsptWx said:

Yes, it was May 26, 2011. I just went back in time on my social media to confirm.

I only received .02" that day but have in my notes that there were heavy storms all around that just missed, with four tornados confirmed in central PA.

[Yardstickgozinya]

2011 was also the year that a completely unexpected severe nocturnal, storm erupted over Hershey, and sat over top of them forever, dumping rain. It produced this  extremely loud  growling thunder. Eventually it  collapsed exactly where it had formed and caused quite a bit of damage. It was one of the best lightning storms i've ever seen and probably had the most powerful strokes of any storm that i've ever witnessed.  It was surveyed for a tornado, but it was verified as  down drafts.'s . A few weeks before that a early morning storm unexpectedly erupted over. palmyra (could be wrong town) that rocked the whole area and made the news just like the Hershey storm for being so obnoxiously loud. It sat for for a well over an hour before it collapsed, I don't think it did as extensive damage as the  Hershey storm. 

[MAG5035]

HRRR and NBM snow totals this evening. 

 

[TheDreamTraveler]

4 minutes ago, Yardstickgozinya said:

2011 was also the year that a completely unexpected severe nocturnal, storm erupted over Hershey, and sat over top of them forever, dumping rain. It produced this  extremely loud  growling thunder. Eventually it  collapsed exactly where it had formed and caused quite a bit of damage. It was one of the best lightning storms i've ever seen and probably had the most powerful strokes of any storm that i've ever witnessed.  It was surveyed for a tornado, but it was verified as  down drafts.'s . A few weeks before that a early morning storm unexpectedly erupted over. palmyra (could be wrong town) that rocked the whole area and made the news just like the Hershey storm for being so obnoxiously loud. It sat for for a well over an hour before it collapsed, I don't think it did as extensive damage as the  Hershey storm. 

I wonder if that was the same storm I experienced that one night in 2011. I remember around that time I was sleeping in bed and woke up to the loudest thunder ever. It was crazy because there was no forecast that night at all for rain of any kind let alone a storm that severe. I can't remember exactly what day it happened but I'm thinking that was the same storm. That thing is still ingrained into my memory and remember other people talking about it to me later in the day lol

[canderson]

2011 is the storm that brought down all those trees on Front Street. 

[WmsptWx]

25 minutes ago, Mount Joy Snowman said:

I only received .02" that day but have in my notes that there were heavy storms all around that just missed, with four tornados confirmed in central PA.

I loved in Wormleysburg at the time. They blasted the sirens that afternoon and I remember WGAL showing the Carlisle Car Show grounds with a shelf cloud. 

 

My friend in Mechanicsburg sat in her basement for an hour.

[canderson]

This line of showed moving north will dampen instability and i am not sure it can rebuild again.  

[Yardstickgozinya]

23 minutes ago, Jns2183 said:

I never saw such green sky or have such an feeling something was off. But I was young and dumb so of course I stayed on a porch and watched funnel go pretty damn close above me. It touched down not long after

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They're few and far between, but we've had some really nasty ones out this way, but nothing super nasty since 2011 locally.  There was several the big events from the mid eighties into the early 90s. I'll send you pm with some bangers, you might be able to find some information on. I've already mentioned the low dew point derecho and serial duratio of 89, several times on here. Another one, you might be able to find some history Is the 1988 big 33  Thunderstorm.  Not only did it end the big 33 game early, but it injured several kids and knocked down numerous trees at the old outdoor Ymca pool and camp that used to be here in Fairview, township.  I  remember this one specifically because I was at that game to see some dude named Rocket Ismail. Lol

Maryland 13 - Pennsylvania 21

Mother Nature forced an early ending to what might have been the most exciting Big 33 Classic in the long history of the all-star football series. Pennsylvania was declared a 21-13 winner over Maryland in a game that was halted at half-time by a violent thunderstorm. Most of the crowd of 17,334 were well on their way home when game director Mickey Minnich told coaches and players that it would be impossible to resume the action. It was a disappointing ending to what had been an exciting game. Players from both teams said they wish they had been able to return to action.

[Yardstickgozinya]

38 minutes ago, TheDreamTraveler said:

I wonder if that was the same storm I experienced that one night in 2011. I remember around that time I was sleeping in bed and woke up to the loudest thunder ever. It was crazy because there was no forecast that night at all for rain of any kind let alone a storm that severe. I can't remember exactly what day it happened but I'm thinking that was the same storm. That thing is still ingrained into my memory and remember other people talking about it to me later in the day lol

I guarantee it.I've talked about it before and someone else here also remembers that storm, one of our members is from hershey. I'm gonna pay for a membership one day, so I can put up videos . I have hershey storm on video. I believe it knocked down a bunch of the kiss light poles.If I remember correctly. 

[Yardstickgozinya]

I'm starting to see imaginary tornadoes, float by. 

[WmsptWx]

I'm sorry, was Raghib Ismail just referenced in 2026?

[Yardstickgozinya]

Legend

[Yardstickgozinya]

Sunday, I'll have to tell a story about when I beat him in a race

[Yardstickgozinya]

42 minutes ago, canderson said:

2011 is the storm that brought down all those trees on Front Street. 

I don't remember anymore if it was 2011 but it was some where around those years. There was a confirmed F1 on Darry street down twards the home depot. 

[Yardstickgozinya]

 

Link below

https://data.ydr.com/tornado-archive/

[Jns2183]

They're few and far between, but we've had some really nasty ones out this way, but nothing super nasty since 2011 locally.  There was several the big events from the mid eighties into the early 90s. I'll send you pm with some bangers, you might be able to find some information on. I've already mentioned the low dew point derecho and serial duratio of 89, several times on here. Another one, you might be able to find some history Is the 1988 big 33  Thunderstorm.  Not only did it end the big 33 game early, but it injured several kids and knocked down numerous trees at the old outdoor Ymca pool and camp that used to be here in Fairview, township.  I  remember this one specifically because I was at that game to see some dude named Rocket Ismail. Lol
Maryland 13 - Pennsylvania 21
Mother Nature forced an early ending to what might have been the most exciting Big 33 Classic in the long history of the all-star football series. Pennsylvania was declared a 21-13 winner over Maryland in a game that was halted at half-time by a violent thunderstorm. Most of the crowd of 17,334 were well on their way home when game director Mickey Minnich told coaches and players that it would be impossible to resume the action. It was a disappointing ending to what had been an exciting game. Players from both teams said they wish they had been able to return to action.

Hopefully I have enough time to like to sit down stitch those weirdos together for for 2011. The archive goes back to 1995. So if you have other dates your interested in let me know. I've spent the last month on a learning binge trying to piece together the ridiculously fragmented data and archive environment of weather data available and tools as well. Far more daunting then I thought but I produced basically 30 pages of a guide for myself. I think in going to take on trying to get a copy of AWIPS the nws made public to run on an AWS server so that I can run out the graphics power necessary to run it per hour use basis. 20 bucks a month is a lot better than spending $5,000 to build something that can run it. That's the main software that is that the workstations of the national weather service that brings in all the desperate data feeds that they've almost made totally public now. I even got authorization to use part of there MADIS feed

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[Voyager]

Just a ho hum day of showers in the Skook. Got .40" in the bucket, but nothing in the way of wind.

10.4 mph peak gust so far...lol