Alert archive / New York / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 73, NWS Buffalo, NY

August 15, 1996Cattaraugus County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 15, 1996, 5:02 PM EDT for Cattaraugus County, New York. It was in force for 58 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
Aug 15, 1996, 5:02 PM EDT (21:02 UTC)
Expired
Aug 15, 1996, 6:00 PM EDT
In force
58 min
Issued by
NWS Buffalo, NY
Area
Whole counties

County Cattaraugus County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:03 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
Aug 15, 5:10 PM EDTThunderstorm WindNew Albion, 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, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 76 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, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 1996-08-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 944 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Buffalo Intl Airport, NY at 12:00Z on 1996-08-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 57 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
944 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-125 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1143 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
57 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
49 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 KBUF 152103
SVRBUF
NYC009-152200-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
502 PM EDT THU AUG 15 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO NY HAS EXTENDED THE
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING UNTIL 600 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE 
FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WESTERN NEW YORK

   ...CATTARAUGUS COUNTY...
 
DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR AT 500 PM SHOWED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS NEAR 
RANDOLPH AND ELLICOTTVILLE. THESE STORMS WERE MOVING TOWARD THE EAST 
NORTHEAST AT 40 MILES AN HOUR AND WILL CROSS THE SOUTHERN AND EASTERN 
PORTION OF THE COUNTY THROUGH 600 PM.

THESE STORMS ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE 
HAIL...AND FLOODING.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THESE STORMS...MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON 
THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS. DON'T ATTEMPT TO
CROSS FLOODED ROADWAYS.

MCLAUGHLIN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 15, 2:46 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFChautauqua59 min
Aug 15, 3:27 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFErie73 min
Aug 15, 3:46 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFChautauqua59 min
Aug 15, 3:55 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFCattaraugus65 min
Aug 15, 4:17 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFGenesee, Wyoming88 min
Aug 15, 5:26 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFAllegany64 min
Aug 15, 5:58 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFWayne62 min
Aug 15, 6:00 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFWayne60 min
Aug 15, 6:41 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFCayuga, Oswego79 min
Aug 15, 7:02 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFJefferson88 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in New York, 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.