Alert archive / New York / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 18, NWS Buffalo, NY

May 20, 1996Erie County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 20, 1996, 8:06 PM EDT for Erie County, New York. It was in force for 59 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: May 20, 1996, 8:06 PM EDT (00:06 UTC)
Expired: May 20, 1996, 9:05 PM EDT
In force: 59 min
Issued by: NWS Buffalo, NY
Area: Whole counties

County Erie County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 21 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:10 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 00:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 20 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: 381 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -126 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1456 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 110 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 192 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBUF 210007
SVRBUF
NYC029-NYZ521-522-210105-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND SPECIAL MARINE WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
806 PM EDT MON MAY 20 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO NY HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 905 PM EDT

IN WESTERN NEW YORK

   ...ERIE COUNTY

AND A SPECIAL MARINE WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 905 PM EDT
FOR THE NEAR SHORE WATERS OF LAKE ERIE FROM...

   ...SILVER CREEK TO BUFFALO HARBOR AND NIAGARA RIVER
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WERE INDICATED BY BUFFALO DOPPLER RADAR OVER THE
NIAGARA PENINSULA AT 8 PM. THE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH AND
SHOULD AFFECT ERIE COUNTY AND THE NEARBY WATERS OF LAKE ONTARIO AND THE
NIAGARA RIVER BETWEEN 830 PM AND 900 PM.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH
AND/OR HAIL 3/4 INCH OR LARGER. FOR YOUR PROTECTION FROM
POTENTIALLY DAMAGING WINDS...MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS. HEAVY RAINS MAY ALSO CAUSE RAPID
FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. DON'T ATTEMPT TO
CROSS FLOODED ROADWAYS.

BOATERS SHOULD SEEK SAFE HARBOR IMMEDIATELY. IF POSSIBLE...REMAIN
BELOW DECK TO AVOID THE THREAT OF LIGHTNING. STRONG...GUSTY WINDS AND
HIGH WAVES MAY QUICKLY CAPSIZE YOUR CRAFT. BOATS IN PORT ARE ADVISED
NOT TO VENTURE OUT UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.
SAGE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Buffalo, NY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 20, 8:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Orleans	61 min
May 20, 8:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Genesee	50 min
May 20, 9:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Monroe	46 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in New York, 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.