Alert archive / Massachusetts / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 23, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

October 20, 1996Norfolk County, Suffolk County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this flash flood warning at Oct 20, 1996, 9:02 AM EDT for Norfolk County, Suffolk County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 8 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
Oct 20, 1996, 9:02 AM EDT (13:02 UTC)
Expired
Oct 20, 1996, 5:00 PM EDT
In force
8 hr
Issued by
NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area
Whole counties

Counties Norfolk County, MA, Suffolk County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 34 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:04 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Chatham, MA (KCHH), launched 12:00Z, 1.0 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Chatham, MA at 12:00Z on 1996-10-20Temperature 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, Chatham, MA at 12:00Z on 1996-10-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 516 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
523 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
73 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
516 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
572 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 201303
FFWBOS
MAC021-025-202100-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
902 AM EDT SUN OCT 20 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  500 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN  MASSACHUSETTS
 
   ...NORFOLK COUNTY...SUFFOLK COUNTY
 
AT 900 AM...HEAVY RAINS CONTINUED TO FALL ACROSS EASTERN
MASSACHUSETTS...WITH OVER 2 INCHES SINCE MIDNIGHT.  THE MUDDY RIVER WAS
REPORTED TO BE RISING OUT OF ITS BANKS IN SPOTS IN BROOKLINE AND BOSTON.
 
WITH MORE HEAVY RAIN LURKING TO THE SOUTH...FLOODING ALONG THIS STREAM
AND OTHERS IS LIKELY THROUGH THE AFTERNOON.  CONSIDERABLE STREET
FLOODING IS ALSO LIKELY.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
DRV

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

Special weather statement, Oct 20, 5:59 AM EDT, 3 hours 3 minutes before
MAZ007-015-016-019>024-RIZ006-007-210000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
600 AM EDT SUN OCT 20 1996

...A HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR EAST AND SOUTH
COASTAL MASSACHUSETTS AND SOUTH COASTAL RHODE ISLAND...

GUSTY EAST TO NORTHEAST WINDS OF 35 TO 45 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 70 MPH
WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THIS MORNING...BUT WILL BEGIN TO SLOWLY
DIMINISH THIS AFTERNOON...ESPECIALLY ALONG THE SOUTH COASTS OF
MASSACHUSETTS AND RHODE ISLAND.  THE HIGHEST WIND GUST REPORTED TO
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON OCCURED AT LITTLE COMPTON
RHODE ISLAND WHERE A GUST TO 81 MPH WAS REPORTED AT 305 AM.  A
WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTED SOME POWER POLES IN FAIRHAVEN
MASSACHUSETTS WERE BROUGHT DOWN BY THE HIGH WINDS THIS MORNING.

THE STRONG WINDS HAVE CAUSED SOME SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES THIS
MORNING.  THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HERE IN TAUNTON LOST ITS
POWER FOR AWHILE THIS MORNING...BUT CONTINUED OPERATIONS USING AN
EMERGENCY GENERATOR.  SOME TREES AND BRANCHES WILL LIKELY BE
BROUGHT DOWN BY THE HIGH WINDS.  ALSO...THE HIGH WINDS COMBINED
WITH HEAVY RAINS WILL LIKELY BRING DOWN PLENTY OF LEAVES ACROSS
ROADWAYS...MAKING TRAVEL CONDITIONS HAZARDOUS.

OTHER HIGH WIND GUSTS REPORTED SO FAR THIS MORNING INCLUDE...A 52
MPH WIND GUST REPORTED AT BOSTONS LOGAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.
A 56 MPH WIND GUST AT FALMOUTH MASSACHUSETTS...A 54 MPH WIND GUST
AT FAIRHAVEN MASSACHUSETTS...A 53 MPH WIND GUST AT NEWPORT RHODE
...AND A 52 MPH WIND GUST AT WESTFORD MASSACHUSETTS.

WINDS HAVE ALREADY BEGUN TO DIMINISH ACROSS RHODE ISLAND...BUT
WILL CONTINUE QUITE GUSTY ELESWHERE THROUGHOUT THE MORNING.

WGH

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 20, 5:17 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningBOXNorfolk, Suffolk6 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Massachusetts, 1996Every 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.