Weather service issues tornado watch, hazardous outlook for Wednesday in Erie area
Erie and Crawford counties are under a tornado watch until midnight Wednesday.
The National Weather Service issued the watch Wednesday at 3:45 p.m. for 10 Pennsylvania counties: Erie, Crawford, Mercer, Venango, Allegheny, Lawrence, Washington, Beaver, Butler and Greene.
The service had earlier issued a hazardous weather outlook for Wednesday for northern and southern Erie County, Crawford County and parts of Ohio that included the possibility of tornadoes.
"Strong to severe storms are possible this afternoon and evening," the outlook states. "All severe weather threats including large hail, a couple of tornadoes, and damaging wind gusts are possible."
A tornado watch, according to the weather service, means tornadoes are possible in and near the watch area and weather conditions favor thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes.
A tornado warning means a tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar.
Wednesday's forecast for Erie from the weather service was calling for a high temperature in the mid-60s, although it was showing temperatures at Erie International Airport in the mid-70s, with a low tonight around 50 degrees. The chance of precipitation during the day was at 60%, climbing to 90% at night.
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Thursday is expected to be mostly cloudy with a high in the mid-50s.
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Dana Massing can be reached at dmassing@timesnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: National Weather Service issues tornado watch for Erie, Crawford
