Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 1, NWS Boston/Norton, MA
NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 22, 1997, 2:06 PM EST for Worcester County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 39 min. 3 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
- Feb 22, 1997, 2:06 PM EST (19:06 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 22, 1997, 2:45 PM EST
- In force
- 39 min
- Issued by
- NWS Boston/Norton, MA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Worcester County, MA
The radar
The Boston radar (KBOX), 77 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:05 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 22, 2:20 PM EST | Thunderstorm Wind 52 | Hardwick, MA | A severe thunderstorm brought a peak wind gust to 60 mph at Barre at 2:20 PM and trees and wires were reported down in Hardwick between 2:22 PM and 2:30 PM. |
| Feb 22, 2:34 PM EST | Thunderstorm Wind 54 | Fitchburg, MA | A peak wind gust to 62 mph was recorded by the automated weather station at Fitchburg during a severe thunderstorm. Quite a few power lines were reported down throughout the city of Fitchburg, but power outages were brief. |
| Feb 22, 2:52 PM EST | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Princeton, MA | Trees and wires were reported down in Princeton. |
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
Albany, NY (KALB), launched 12:00Z, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 162 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 81 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -38 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1001 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 63 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 67 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 23 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KBOS 221906 RRA SVRBOS MAC027-221945- BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA 206 PM EST SAT FEB 22 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 245 PM EST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS ...WORCESTER COUNTY SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS RACING THROUGH THE CONNECITICUT RIVER VALLEY WILL CROSS MUCH OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY BETWEEN NOW AND 245 PM. THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL REPORTS OF 55 MPH WINDS IN THE COUNTIES JUST UPSTREAM. DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 60 OR 65 MPH ARE POSSIBLE AND ALSO SMALL HAIL. DRAG SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND OF AT LEAST 58 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.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 22, 2:18 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOX | Hampden | 22 min |
| Feb 22, 2:31 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOX | Middlesex | 59 min |
| Feb 22, 2:52 PM EST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOX | Worcester | 53 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Massachusetts, 1997Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1997
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.