Alert archive / New York / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 3, NWS Buffalo, NY

May 20, 1988Genesee County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 20, 1988, 4:41 PM EDT for Genesee County, New York. It was in force for 35 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 20, 1988, 4:41 PM EDT (20:41 UTC)
Expired: May 20, 1988, 5:16 PM EDT
In force: 35 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 88 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 581 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -13 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 41 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KBUF 202041
SVRBUF
NYC037-202145-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
441 PM EDT FRI MAY 20 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 545 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTY

   IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK
      GENESEE

AT 440 PM TWO FUNNEL CLOUDS WERE REPORTED BY A SPOTTER JUST
EAST OF AKRON NEW YORK.

MARBLE SIZE HAIL WAS ALSO REPORTED AT BERGEN BY SHERRIFF

BE ON THE ALERT FOR TORNADOES OR THUNDERSTORMS ACCOMPANIED BY
FREQUENT LIGHTNING...STRONG DAMAGING WIND AND LARGE HAIL.  LOCALLY
HEAVY RAIN MAY ALSO CAUSE DRAINAGE FLOODING.
.
IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES GO TO THE BASEMENT OR AN INTERIOR
ROOM OR HALLWAY AND GET UNDER A STURDY PIECE OF FURNITURE.  MOBILE
HOMES AND AUTOS OFFER NO SHELTER.

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, May 20, 4:21 PM EDT, 20 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROCHESTER NY
420 PM EDT FRI MAY 20 1988

         ...THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAINS WERE OVER THE
            WESTERN FINGER LAKES...

AT 420PM EDT THUNDERSTORMS CONTAINING HEAVY RAIN WERE LOCATED OVER
NORTHERN LIVINGSTON AND CENTRAL ONTARIO COUNTIES. LOCALLY HEAVY
RAIN WITH THESE STORMS COULD PRODUCE SOME POOR DRAINAGE FLOODING.
THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTH AT 15 MILES AN HOUR.

BE ON THtE LOOKOUT FOR THUNDERSTORMS CONTAINING HEAVY RAIN...GUSTY
WINDS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...AND POSSIBLY HAIL.

SCHWIBS

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in New York, 1988 Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.