Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

May 21, 1996Barnstable County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 21, 1996, 4:54 PM EDT for Barnstable County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 51 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 21, 1996, 4:54 PM EDT (20:54 UTC)
Expired
May 21, 1996, 5:45 PM EDT
In force
51 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 20:54 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 21, 5:16 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 50Provincetown, 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 12:00Z, 8.9 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Chatham, MA at 12:00Z on 1996-05-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 95 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 12:00Z on 1996-05-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 22 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
95 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-393 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1672 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
22 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
86 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KBOS 212055
SVRBOS
MAC001-212145-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
454 PM EDT TUE MAY 21 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  MASSACHUSETTS
 
   ...BARNSTABLE COUNTY
 
AND THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS.
 
AT 453 PM...WEATHER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MOVING OFF THE
COAST OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY. THIS STORM HAS PRODUCED WIDESPREAD WIND DAMAGE
WITH GUSTS TO 70 MPH. THIS STORM WILL MOVE RAPIDLY EAST ACROSS CAPE COD
BAY AND ACROSS THE ELBOW OF CAPE COD BY 545 PM.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM.  IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH YOU SHOULD
PREPARE FOR DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...LARGE HAIL...AND
DEADLY LIGHTNING.  PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A SHELTER...
PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.
 
DRV/GF
 
&

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 21, 2:00 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXHampden45 min
May 21, 3:31 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXWorcester44 min
May 21, 4:23 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXPlymouth52 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.