Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1991

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 4, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

May 17, 1991Middlesex County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 17, 1991, 6:22 PM EDT for Middlesex County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 31 min. 2 reports 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
May 17, 1991, 6:22 PM EDT (22:22 UTC)
Expired
May 17, 1991, 6:53 PM EDT
In force
31 min
Issued by
NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area
Whole counties

County Middlesex County, MA

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 17, 6:30 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 0Middlesex, MA
May 17, 6:45 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 0Middlesex, MA

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

Albany, NY (KALB), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 201 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, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 1991-05-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 1991-05-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 171 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1472 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
171 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
186 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, May 17, 5:03 PM EDT, 1 hour 19 minutes before
MAC027-172200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WORCESTER MA
505 PM EST FRI MAY 17 1991

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 545PM FOR BERKSHIRE
COUNTY IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS.

AT 5PM A LINE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WAS LOCATED OVER SOUTHERN
VERMONT EXTENDING SOUTHWESTWARD THROUGH NORTHERN BERKSHIRE COUNTY
AND INTO EASTERN NEW YORK.

THESE STORMS ARE MOVING RAPIDLY EAST-SOUTH EAST AT 40-45 MPH AND
SHOULD BEGIN TO EFFECT CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS BY 545PM.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING MEANS THAT THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE
HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND ARE POSSIBLE. IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHE
S...YOU SHOULD GO INDOORS IMMEDIATELY AND STAY AWAY FROMa WINDOWS.

CULLEN
Special weather statement, May 17, 5:14 PM EDT, 1 hour 8 minutes before
MAC027-172200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...CORRECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WORCESTER MA
505 PM EST FRI MAY 17 1991

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 545PM FOR BERKSHIRE

COUNTY IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS.

AT 5PM A LINE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WAS LOCATED OVER SOUTHERN
VERMONT EXTENDING SOUTHWESTWARD THROUGH NORTHERN BERKSHIRE COUNTY
AND INTO EASTERN NEW YORK.

THESE STORMS ARE MOVING RAPIDLY EAST-SOUTH EAST AT 40-45 MPH AND
SHOULD BEGIN TO EFFECT CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS BY 545PM.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING MEANS THAT THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE
HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND ARE POSSIBLE. IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHE
S...YOU SHOULD GO INDOORS IMMEDIATELY AND STAY AWAYn FROM WINDOWS.

CULLEN
Special weather statement, May 17, 6:18 PM EDT, 4 minutes before
RIZALL-180000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PROVIDENCE RI
616 PM EDT FRI MAY 17 1991

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR ALL OF RHODE ISLAND
UNTIL 11 PM...

AT 600 PM...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR WAS SHOWING A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS
FROM CENTRAL NEW HAMPSHIRE SOUTHWEST ACROSS CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS.
EARLIER...THUNDERSTORMS WHICH MOVED ACROSS EASTERN NEW YORK STATE AND
WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS WERE ACCOMPANIED BY DAMAGING WINDS.

THE STORMS MAY BEGIN TO AFFECT NORTHERN RHODE ISLAND BY 730 PM.  STAY
TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND NEAR THE WATCH AREA.  IF
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS BECOME IMMINENT FOR THE OEAN STATE...WARNINGS
WILL BE ISSUED.

CADIMA

The office that day

Everything else NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 17, 5:20 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXFranklin40 min
May 17, 5:49 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXWorcester41 min
May 17, 6:21 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXHampden69 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Massachusetts, 1991Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1991

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.