Alert archive / Massachusetts / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 27, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

October 20, 1996Middlesex County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this flash flood warning at Oct 20, 1996, 9:45 PM EDT for Middlesex County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 4 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, 9:45 PM EDT (01:45 UTC)
Expired: Oct 21, 1996, 2:00 AM EDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Whole counties

County Middlesex County, MA

The nearest sounding before it

Chatham, MA (KCHH), launched 00:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 148 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 643 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 12 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 80 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 210146 COR
FFWBOS
MAC017-210600-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING...CORRECTED FOR AFFECTED TOWN
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
945 PM EDT SUN OCT 20 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 200 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN  MASSACHUSETTS

   ...MIDDLESEX COUNTY

AT 830 PM THE MASSSACHUSETTS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY REPORTED THAT
THE HORN POND DAM IN WOBURN ALONG THE POND BROOK RIVER HAS BEGUN TO
FAIL.  RESIDENTS ALONG AND DOWNSTREAM OF THE DAM SHOULD MOVE TO HIGHER
GROUND IMMEDIATELY.

SHOULD THE DAM ACTUALLY BREAK...WATER FROM THE DAM WOULD REACH THE
TOWN OF WINCHESTER WITHIN 3 HOURS.  THE PEAK DEPTH OF THE WATER WOULD
BE NEAR 11 FEET.  ALL LOW LYING AREAS NEAR THE DAM SHOULD BE EVACUATED
IMMEDIATELY.

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.

GIRODO

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 20, 8:39 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Middlesex	4 hr
Oct 20, 9:34 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Plymouth	6 hr
Oct 20, 10:00 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Essex, Middlesex	8 hr
Oct 20, 10:00 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Norfolk, Suffolk	8 hr
Oct 20, 10:00 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Plymouth	8 hr
Oct 21, 2:07 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Middlesex	8 hr
Oct 21, 6:01 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk	6 hr
Oct 21, 6:01 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Plymouth	6 hr
Oct 21, 10:40 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Essex, Middlesex	12 hr
Oct 21, 10:40 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Norfolk, Suffolk	12 hr
Oct 21, 10:40 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Plymouth	12 hr

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.