Alert archive / New York / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 62, NWS Buffalo, NY

August 8, 1996Niagara County, Orleans County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 8, 1996, 4:25 PM EDT for Niagara County, Orleans County, New York. It was in force for 75 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: Aug 8, 1996, 4:25 PM EDT (20:25 UTC)
Expired: Aug 8, 1996, 5:40 PM EDT
In force: 75 min
Issued by: NWS Buffalo, NY
Area: Whole counties

Counties Niagara County, NY, Orleans County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 38 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:24 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
Aug 8, 4:35 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Porter, NY
Aug 8, 5:15 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Cambria, NY

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

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 38 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: 1268 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -59 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1001 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 90 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 72 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBUF 082026
SVRBUF
NYC063-073-NYZ523-524-082140-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING AND SPECIAL MARINE WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
425 PM EDT THU AUG 8 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO NY HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND SPECIAL MARINE WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 540 PM
EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WESTERN NEW YORK

   ...NIAGARA COUNTY
   ...ORLEANS COUNTY AND THE ADJACENT WATERS OF LAKE ONTARIO
 
AT 430 PM BUFFALO RADAR DETECTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER LAKE ONTARIO
ABOUT 15 MILES NORTH OF NIAGARA ON THE LAKE AND OLCOTT. THESE STORMS
WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MILES AN HOUR AND SHOULD REACH THE OLCOTT
AREA BY 5PM.
 
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
FLXOODING OF SMALL STREAMS AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. DON'T ATTEMPT TO
CROSS FLOODED ROADWAYS.

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

Local storm report, Aug 8, 1:45 PM EDT, 2 hours 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NEW YORK
144 PM EDT THU AUG 08 1996

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

(0115 PM    STEDMAN                   NY   WIND DAMAGE
08/08/96   CHAUTAUQUA                     HOUSE DAMAGED, BARN DOWN,
                                          TREES AND WIRES DOWN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 8, 8:23 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BUF	Monroe, Orleans	2 hr
Aug 8, 8:23 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BUF	Wayne	2 hr
Aug 8, 10:34 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BUF	Monroe, Orleans	2 hr
Aug 8, 10:34 AM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BUF	Wayne	2 hr
Aug 8, 12:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Chautauqua	55 min
Aug 8, 1:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Chautauqua	57 min
Aug 8, 2:39 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BUF	Cattaraugus	81 min
Aug 8, 5:03 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BUF	Niagara	57 min
Aug 8, 5:12 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BUF	Erie, Niagara	88 min
Aug 8, 5:12 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BUF	Orleans	88 min
Aug 8, 5:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Erie	58 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.