Alert archive / Massachusetts / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 31, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

October 21, 1996Middlesex County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this flash flood warning at Oct 21, 1996, 2:07 AM EDT for Middlesex 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 21, 1996, 2:07 AM EDT (06:07 UTC)
Expired: Oct 21, 1996, 10:15 AM EDT
In force: 8 hr
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Whole counties

County Middlesex County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 63 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:07 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 00:00Z, 6.1 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 210617 COR
FFWBOS
MAC017-211415-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING...CORRECTION PARAGRAPH 2 LINE 3
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
207 AM EDT MON OCT 21 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN  MASSACHUSETTS

   ...SOUTHEASTERN MIDDLESEX COUNTY

AT 130 AM...THE HORN POND DAM IN WOBURN WAS CONTINUING TO INDICATE SIGNS
OF FAILURE.  RESIDENTS ALONG HORN POND BROOK ROAD FROM HORN POND DAM IN
WOBURN TO WEDGE POND IN WINCHESTER ARE AT THE HIGHEST RISK FOR
SEVERE FLASH FLOODING.

SHOULD THE DAM FAIL...WATER STORED IN HORN POND WOULD REACH WINCHESTER
IN LESS THAN 15 MINUTES.  DOWNTOWN WINCHESTER IS APPROXIMATELY 4/5 OF
A MILE DOWNSTREAM FROM HORN POND.  THE MAXIMUM DEPTH OF THE WATER WHEN
IT REACHES WEDGE POND...JUST NORTH OF DOWNTOWN WINCHESTER...WOULD BE 4
FEET...SPREADING OUT APPROXIMATELY 100 FEET ON EITHER SIDE OF HORN POND
BROOK.

RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES IN THE AREAS MENTIONED ABOVE SHOULD MONITOR
THIS SITUATION CLOSELY.

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.

JL

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, 9:45 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Middlesex	4 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, 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.