Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 45, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

August 23, 1996Hampden County, Hampshire County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 23, 1996, 4:17 PM EDT for Hampden County, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 28 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 23, 1996, 4:17 PM EDT (20:17 UTC)
Expired
Aug 23, 1996, 4:45 PM EDT
In force
28 min
Issued by
NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area
Whole counties

Counties Hampden County, MA, Hampshire County, MA

The nearest sounding before it

Albany, NY (KALB), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 109 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 1996-08-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1996-08-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 83 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1088 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
83 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
118 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 232020 COR
SVRBOS
MAC013-015-232045-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING...COR FIRST SENTENCE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
417 PM EDT FRI AUG 23 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  445 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN WEST MASSACHUSETTS

   ...WESTERN HAMPDEN COUNTY...WESTERN HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

AT 415 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM MOVING ACROSS EASTERN BERKSHIRE COUNTY. THIS
STORM IS MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH AND WILL PASS ACROSS WORTHINGTON AND
CHESTER IN WESTERN HAMPSHIRE AND HAMPDEN COUNTIES BY AROUND 430 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.

MAXWELL/EVT/WTB

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, Aug 23, 12:13 PM EDT, 4 hours 4 minutes before
CTZ002>004-MAZ002>024-NHZ011-012-RIZALL-240000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
1215 PM EDT FRI AUG 23 1996

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WINDS ARE POSSIBLE IN A COUPLE OF
COMMUNITIES OF INTERIOR SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND BETWEEN 3 PM AND 8
PM...

A SULTRY DAY WITH NEAR 90 DEGREE HEAT AND AN APPROACHING COLD
FRONT SETS THE STAGE FOR A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS CROSSING
SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND FROM MID AFTERNOON INTO MID EVENING.

THE PRIME TARGET FOR DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS APPEARS TO LIE
NEAR THE MASS PIKE FROM SPRINGFIELD AND WORCESTER TO BOSTON. EVEN
IF MOST OF THE AREA ONLY RECEIVES WIND GUSTS TO 35 MPH...THE
POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR DAMAGING GUSTS TO 65 MPH IN ONE OR 2
COMMUNITIES.

THUNDERSTORMS MAY ALSO PRODUCE FLOODING IN POOR DRAINAGE
AREAS...ESPECIALLY IN SOUTHWEST NEW HAMPSHIRE AND NORTHERN
MASSACHUSETTS.

MARINERS FROM THE MERRIMACK RIVER TO PLYMOUTH SHOULD BE ALERT FOR
WARNINGS AND ASSOCIATED STRONG WIND GUSTS THIS AFTERNOON.

AFTER SUNSET...THUNDERSTORMS WILL DIMINISH AS THEY HEAD INTO
PROVIDENCE...PLYMOUTH AND THE SOUTH COAST REGION. EVEN
SO...MARINERS ALONG THE SOUTH COAST SHOULD BE ALERT FOR A
POSSIBLE WIND GUST TO 40 KNOTS BETWEEN 8 PM AND MIDNIGHT.

SKYWARN OPERATORS ARE REQUESTED TO BE ALERT FOR ANY SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WATCHES ISSUED THIS AFTERNOON.

EVERYONE IN INTERIOR SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND SHOULD MAKE MENTAL
PREPARATIONS ON WHERE TO SEEK SAFE SHELTER...IF BLACK SKIES AREP
SEEN OR WARNINGS ARE ISSUED.

ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILL BE
ISSUED AS SHORT TERM FORECASTS...HEARD ON NOAA WEATHER RADIO...
AND SEEN AS LOCAL UPDATES ON TELEVISION.

DRAG

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 23, 5:11 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXHampden49 min
Aug 23, 5:15 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXHampden45 min
Aug 23, 5:41 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXWorcester64 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.