Alert archive / Massachusetts / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 19, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

July 13, 1996Hampden County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this flash flood warning at Jul 13, 1996, 4:08 PM EDT for Hampden County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 6 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 13, 1996, 4:08 PM EDT (20:08 UTC)
Expired: Jul 13, 1996, 10:15 PM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Whole counties

County Hampden County, MA

The nearest sounding before it

Albany, NY (KALB), launched 12:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 116 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: 1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 606 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 160 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 180 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 KBOS 132008
FFWBOS
MAC011-013-015-140215-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
408 PM EDT SAT JUL 13 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN WEST MASSACHUSETTS
 
   ...FRANKLIN COUNTY...HAMPDEN COUNTY...HAMPSHIRE COUNTY
 
AT 410 PM...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED BANDS OF HEAVY RAINS ASSOCIATED WITH
TROPICAL STORM BERTHA CONTINUING TO AFFECT MUCH OF FRANKLIN...
HAMPSHIRE...AND HAMPDEN COUNTIES. THUS FAR THE HEAVIEST RAINS HAVE
FALLEN IN THE WESTERN PARTS OF THESE COUNTIES...BUT AS THE NEXT BANDS
OF RAINS MOVE IN...FLASH FLOODING MAY DEVELOP OVER EASTERN PARTS OF THE
COUNTIES.
 
HEAVY RAINFALL AT OVER 2 INCHES AN HOUR IS POSSIBLE.  SMALL STREAMS
INCLUDING THE WEST BRANCH OF THE HUNTINGTON RIVER AND THE NORTH RIVER
HAVE RISEN QUICKLY...AND MAY BEGIN TO PRODUCE FLOODING IN THE LOWEST
LYING AREAS IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS.  OTHER SMALL STREAMS ARE LIKELY TO DO
THE SAME AS THE EVENING PROGRESSES.  CONSIDERABLE STREET FLOODING AND
ROAD WASHOUTS ARE POSSIBLE WHERE THE HEAVIEST RAINS OCCUR.
 
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE
THE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS.  IF FLASH FLOODING IS
OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY.  MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS.  DO
NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS
IMMINENT.  MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS
THE ROADWAY.  NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL
ONE...ON FOOT.  TO ESCAPE RISING WATER MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
DRV/LJC

What forecasters said that day

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

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 13, 4:02 PM EDT, 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
358 PM EDT SAT JUL 13 1996

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0318 PM    BARRINGTON                RI   WIND DAMAGE
07/13/96   BRISTOL                        GUST TO 71 MPH PER SPOTTER.

0327 PM    NARRAGANSETT              RI   WATERSPOUT OFF POINT
07/13/96   WASHINGTON                     JUDITH REPORTED BY LOCAL
                                          POLICE.  REPORT FORWARDED
                                          BY PROVIDENCE TV STATION.

0340 PM    WARWICK                   RI   WIND DAMAGE
07/13/96   KENT                           GUST TO 67 MPH PER SPOTTER.

0350 PM    FOXBORO                   MA   WIND DAMAGE
07/13/96   NORFOLK                        WIRES DOWN PER FIRE DEPT.

Local storm report, Jul 13, 4:04 PM EDT, 4 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
402 PM EDT SAT JUL 13 1996

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0400 PM    WOONSOCKET                RI   WIND DAMAGE
07/13/96   PROVIDENCE                     NUMEROUS TREES DOWN AND
                                          ESTIMATED GUST TO 60 MPH
                                          PER SPOTTER.

FIELD

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 13, 1:17 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Worcester	12 hr
Jul 13, 2:24 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Norfolk	10 hr
Jul 13, 4:08 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Franklin, Hampshire	6 hr
Jul 13, 4:40 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BOX	Middlesex	20 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Massachusetts, 1996 Every flash flood warning in 1996

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.