Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 35, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

July 9, 1996Barnstable County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 9, 1996, 2:31 AM EDT for Barnstable County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 44 min. 2 reports 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, 2:31 AM EDT (06:31 UTC)
Expired: Jul 9, 1996, 3:15 AM EDT
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Whole counties

County Barnstable County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:32 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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jul 9, 2:37 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Orleans, MA
Jul 9, 3:13 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Orleans, 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, 6.5 hours before the alert went out and 25 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: 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 090631
SVRBOS
MAC001-090715-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
231 AM EDT TUE JUL 9 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  315 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  MASSACHUSETTS
 
   ...BARNSTABLE COUNTY
 
AND THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS.
 
AT 230 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM AT THE ELBOW OF CAPE COD NEAR THE TOWNS OF HARWICH AND
CHATHAM.  THIS STORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH AND SHOULD PASS
THROUGH BREWSTER AND ORLEANS BY 300 AM.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESJTRUCTIVE 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, Jul 8, 9:28 PM EDT, 5 hours 3 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 9, 1:55 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Dukes	35 min
Jul 9, 6:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Franklin	48 min
Jul 9, 7:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Worcester	45 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Massachusetts, 1996 Every 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.