Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 34, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

July 9, 1996Dukes County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 9, 1996, 1:55 AM EDT for Dukes County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 35 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
Jul 9, 1996, 1:55 AM EDT (05:55 UTC)
Expired
Jul 9, 1996, 2:30 AM EDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area
Whole counties

County Dukes County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 73 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:57 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
Jul 9, 2:10 AM EDTThunderstorm Wind 50Martha'S Vineyard, 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

Chatham, MA (KCHH), launched 00:00Z, 5.9 hours before the alert went out and 68 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 00:00Z on 1996-07-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 155 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, Chatham, MA at 00:00Z on 1996-07-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 117 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
155 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-287 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1069 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
117 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
102 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 090556
SVRBOS
MAC007-MAZ501-090630-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND SPECIAL MARINE WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
155 AM EDT TUE JUL 9 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND SPECIAL MARINE WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  230 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  MASSACHUSETTS
 
   ...DUKES COUNTY
 
  AND FOR MARINE INTERESTS ON THE COASTAL WATERS SURROUNDING...
 
   ...MARTHAS VINEYARD...
 
AT 150 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM NEAR EDGARTOWN ON MARTHAS VINEYARD. THIS STORM IS MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. MARINERS AND RESIDENTS ON THE EASTERNMOST PORTION
OF MARTHAS VINEYARD SHOULD EXPECT SQUALLY WINDS IN EXCESS OF 50 KNOTS.
 
IF AFLOAT ON THE COASTAL WATERS...SEEK SAFE HARBOR IMMEDIATELY.
DARK...THREATENING CLOUDS MAY FORETELL A SQUALL OR THUNDERSTORM
WITH DEADLY LIGHTNING...STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND ROUGH WATERS.
 
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, Jul 8, 9:28 PM EDT, 4 hours 27 minutes before
MAZ002>024-CTZ002>004-RIZALL-NHZ011-012-MAZ501>504-RIZ501-502-
090230-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
930 PM EDT MON JUL 8 1996

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT IN
MASSACHUSETTS AND NORTH CENTRAL CONNECTICUT...

AT 930 PM...ONLY A FEW RAIN SHOWERS AND POSSIBLE THUNDERSTORMS
CONTINUED ACROSS THE WESTERN HALF OF MASSACHUSETTS AND SOUTHERN
NEW HAMPSHIRE.  BOTH THE NUMBER AND INTENSITY OF THE SHOWERSt AND
THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DIMINISHED...AND THIS TREND WILL CONTINUE
THROUGH TONIGHT.

AS OF 930 PM...THERE WERE NO SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCHES IN
EFFECT ACROSS SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND.

OSIENSKY

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 9, 2:31 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXBarnstable44 min
Jul 9, 6:27 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXFranklin48 min
Jul 9, 7:00 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXWorcester45 min

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.