Alert archive / New York / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 17, NWS Buffalo, NY

August 5, 1988Genesee County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 5, 1988, 3:07 PM EDT for Genesee County, New York. It was in force for 23 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
Aug 5, 1988, 3:07 PM EDT (19:07 UTC)
Expired
Aug 5, 1988, 3:30 PM EDT
In force
23 min
Issued by
NWS Buffalo, NY
Area
Whole counties

County Genesee County, NY

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 5, 3:15 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 0Genesee, NY

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 42 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 1988-08-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1419 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 1988-08-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 44 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1419 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-47 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1043 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
44 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
43 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 5, 2:28 PM EDT, 39 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROCHESTER NY
230 PM EDT FRI AUG 05 1988

...THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN WERE MOVING INTO WESTERN LIVINGSTON
   COUNTY...

AT 225 PM...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY
RAIN WERE MOVING INTO WESTERN LIVINGSTON COUNTY NEAR LETCHWORTH STATE
PARK. THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

YOU SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THUNDERSTORMS ACCOMPANIED BY BRIEF
HEAVY RAINS...GUSTY WINDS...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.

SCHWIBS

The office that day

Everything else NWS Buffalo, NY issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 5, 5:40 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFCattaraugus110 min
Aug 5, 6:00 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFChautauqua90 min
Aug 5, 6:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFAllegany2 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in New York, 1988Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1988

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.