Central Atlantic Storm Investigators 
 
Live Storm Investigation : High Winds 1/9/98
 
As the frontal system moved out of the NE US on Friday, it brought high winds to isolated areas including Central Pennsylvania.  Member J. Ferrell files this report of a record wind gust and rapidly dropping temperature.

State College, PA - 3:55 PM -

High winds had crept into the area overnight, averaging 5 to 15 mph and gusting 15 to 25 mph.  At 3:47pm the wind started gusting consistently over 20mph.  The temperature was 47.3 degrees and was about to take a dive.  At 3:52pm the house shifted, the windows rattled, and the CAS1 Weather Station recorded its highest gust since installation on 11/1/97, 36 mph.  By 3:53 pm the temperature had fallen to 43.5 degrees.

Figure 1 - Wind Gusts

Figure 1 shows the wind gusts at the CAS1 Weather Station between 3:00pm and 5:00pm 1/9/97, plotted each minute.  What the station did not record in its data was the gust to 36.2mph achieved at 3:52 pm.  This was not picked up by the sampling of the computer data file but was recorded as a new Maximum wind gust on the weather station console.

Figure 2 - Temperature
 
Figure 2 shows the extreme temperature drop suffered during the minutes in which the record wind gust was recorded.  The temperature fell from 47.3 to 43.5 in under 6 minutes.

Below is the actual data that the weather station recorded, sampled once per minute, from 3:46pm to 3:56pm. 

Date     Time           Temp    Dewp    Humd    WetB    Heat    Chil    Dir / Spd       RYes    RTot    Barom

01/09/98 03:56:05PM     43.0    35.6    77.0    41.3    43.0    30.2    WNW / 15        1.06    2.05    29.66
01/09/98 03:55:04PM     43.0    35.6    76.0    41.3    43.0    24.8    WNW / 18        1.06    2.05    29.66
01/09/98 03:54:04PM     43.3    35.6    75.0    41.5    43.3    26.6    NNW / 17        1.06    2.05    29.66
01/09/98 03:53:04PM     43.5    33.8    73.0    40.7    43.5    28.4    WNW / 20        1.06    2.05    29.66
01/09/98 03:52:04PM     44.2    33.8    70.0    41.0    44.2    23.0    WNW / 24        1.06    2.05    29.66
01/09/98 03:51:04PM     45.1    33.8    67.0    41.5    45.1    23.0    W / 23          1.06    2.05    29.66
01/09/98 03:50:04PM     46.2    33.8    64.0    42.0    46.2    24.8    WNW / 18        1.06    2.05    29.66
01/09/98 03:49:04PM     46.8    33.8    61.0    42.3    46.8    32.0    W / 16          1.06    2.05    29.66
01/09/98 03:48:04PM     46.9    32.0    59.0    41.5    46.9    33.8    WSW / 15        1.06    2.05    29.66
01/09/98 03:47:04PM     47.3    32.0    57.0    41.7    47.3    37.4    SW / 12         1.06    2.05    29.66
01/09/98 03:46:04PM     47.3    32.0    56.0    41.7    47.3    35.6    W / 14          1.06    2.05    29.66
Other Graphic Illustrations - Click on any of the pictures below for a full-sized version.
 
 
CAS1 Weather Station Records Wind Max
  
NE Streamlines At 7PM 
Show Strong Winds In PA
 
Internet User Obs
At Time Of Gust (NE)
  
NE Temperatures At 3pm 
Show Approaching Strong Gradient
Thanks to the following who posted these images which aided in our Storm Investigation:  CASI, PSU