Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 2, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

May 11, 1996Hampshire County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 11, 1996, 6:29 PM EDT for Hampshire County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 46 min. 1 report 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 11, 1996, 6:29 PM EDT (22:29 UTC)
Expired
May 11, 1996, 7:15 PM EDT
In force
46 min
Issued by
NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area
Whole counties

County Hampshire County, MA

The radar

The Albany radar (KENX), 118 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:31 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.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 11, 6:45 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 50South Hatfield, 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Albany, NY (KALB), launched 12:00Z, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 103 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 1996-05-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 21 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 1996-05-11The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 84 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
21 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-21 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
637 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
123 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 112230
SVRBOS
MAC015-112315-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
629 PM EDT SAT MAY 11 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  715 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST MASSACHUSETTS
 
   ...WESTERN HAMPSHIRE COUNTY
 
AT 6:25 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM NEAR MIDDLEFIELD.  THIS STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35
MPH...AND SHOULD ENTER THE TOWNS OF WORTHINGTON...CHESTERFIELD...AND
GOSHEN BY 7 PM.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.
 
JL

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 11, 2:41 PM EDT, 3 hours 48 minutes before
RIZ001-002-MAZ012-013-112000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
240 PM EDT SAT MAY 11 1996

...A THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN AND POSSIBLY HAIL WAS MOVING
INTO NORTHWEST RHODE ISLAND...

THE STORM AT 239 PM WAS NEAR BURRILLVILLE...HEADED FOR NORTH SMITHFIELD
AND WOONSOCKET BY 310 PM.

DRAG
Special weather statement, May 11, 4:59 PM EDT, 1 hour 30 minutes before
RIZ001-002-112200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
455 PM EDT SAT MAY 11 1996

...THERE HAVE BEEN NO CONFIRMED REPORTS OF WIND DAMAGE IN RHODE
ISLAND THIS AFTERNOON...

A THUNDERSTORM WITH HEAVY RAIN AND GUSTY WINDS DID CROSS FAR
NORTHERN RHODE ISLAND BETWEEN APPROXIMATELY 215 AND 305 PM.

THERE WERE UNCONFIRMED REPORTS OF A TORNADO IN THE NORTH
PROVIDENCE AREA. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS CALLED POLICE
AND FIRE DEPARTMENTS IN THE PROVIDENCE...LINCOLN REGION AS WELL
AS LARGE MEDIA OUTLETS. NO REPORTS OF DAMAGE OR INJURIES HAVE
BEEN RECEIVED.

THE ONLY REPORTS OF STRONG GUSTY WINDS WERE FROM THE EAST CENTRAL
PORTION OF THE CITY OF PROVIDENCE WHERE PATIO FURNITURE WAS
OVERTURNED. A TREE ALSO MAY HAVE BEEN KNOCKED DOWN BY THE WIND
BUT THAT TOO IS UNCONFIRMED.

LIGHTNING CAUSED A SHED FIRE IN NORTH SMITHFIELD.

DRAG

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Massachusetts, 1996Every severe thunderstorm 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.