Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 29, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

July 3, 1997Hampshire County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 3, 1997, 8:44 PM EDT for Hampshire County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 61 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: Jul 3, 1997, 8:44 PM EDT (00:44 UTC)
Expired: Jul 3, 1997, 9:45 PM EDT
In force: 61 min
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Whole counties

County Hampshire County, MA

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jul 3, 4:00 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Albany, NY (KALY), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 103 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: 373 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -29 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 896 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 60 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 44 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 64 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBOS 040045 RRA
SVRBOS
MAC015-040145-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
844 PM EDT THU JUL 3 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  945 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST MASSACHUSETTS
 
   ...HAMPSHIRE COUNTY
 
AT 840 PM...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS FROM MIDDLEFIELD AND WORTHINGTON THROUGH ORANGE AND
ROYALSTON. THESE STORMS WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING
WINDS AS THEY MOVE EAST ACROSS HAMPSHIRE COUNTY THROUGH 930 PM.
 
A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.  REMEMBER
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO
RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEtADLY 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.
DRV/GF

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, Jul 3, 8:00 PM EDT, 44 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
800 PM EDT THU JUl 3 1997

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

0640 PM    Heath                     MA   TORNADO. TORNADO
           FRANKLIN                       ON GROUND PER FIRE DEPT.

0645 PM    WALPOLE                   NH   WIND DAMAGE
           CHESHIRE                       TREES DOWN PER POLICE DEPT.

0650 PM    HINSDALE                  NH   WIND DAMAGE
           CHESHIRE                       POSSIBLE TORNADO

0709 PM    CHARLEMONT                MA   TORNADO. TORNADO
           FRANKLIN                       ON GROUND ON RTE 2
                                          PER EMERGENCY PERSONNEL

0710 PM    CHARLEMONT                MA   WIND DAMAGE
           FRANKLIN                       WIRES DOWN

0710 PM    ALSTEAD                   NH   WIND DAMAGE
           CHESHIRE                       TREES AND WIRES DOWN

AED

Local storm report, Jul 3, 8:04 PM EDT, 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
800 PM EDT THU JUl 3 1997

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

0640 PM    Heath                     MA   TORNADO. TORNADO
           FRANKLIN                       ON GROUND PER FIRE DEPT.

0645 PM    WALPOLE                   NH   WIND DAMAGE
           CHESHIRE                       TREES DOWN PER POLICE DEPT.

0650 PM    HINSDALE                  NH   WIND DAMAGE
           CHESHIRE                       POSSIBLE TORNADO

0709 PM    CHARLEMONT                MA   TORNADO. TORNADO
           FRANKLIN                       ON GROUND ON RTE 2
                                          PER EMERGENCY PERSONNEL

0710 PM    CHARLEMONT                MA   WIND DAMAGE
           FRANKLIN                       WIRES DOWN

0710 PM    ALSTEAD                   NH   WIND DAMAGE
       &    CHESHIRE                       TREES AND WIRES DOWN

AED

Local storm report, Jul 3, 8:15 PM EDT, 29 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
815 PM EDT THU JUl 3 1997

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

0640 PM    HEATH                     MA   TORNADO. TORNADO
           FRANKLIN                       ON GROUND PER FIRE DEPT.

0645 PM    WALPOLE                   NH   WIND DAMAGE
           CHESHIRE                       TREES DOWN PER POLICE DEPT.

0650 PM    HINSDALE                  NH   WIND DAMAGE
           CHESHIRE                       POSSIBLE TORNADO

0709 PM    CHARLEMONT                MA   TORNADO. TORNADO
           FRANKLIN                       ON GROUND ON RTE 2
                                          PER EMERGENCY PERSONNEL

0710 PM    CHARLEMONT                MA   WIND DAMAGE
           FRANKLIN                       WIRES DOWN

0710 PM    ALSTEAD                   NH   WIND DAMAGE
           CHESHIRE                       TREES AND WIRES DOWN

0710 PM    SWANSEY                   NH   WIND DAMAGE
           CHESHIRE                       TREES UPROOTED

0713 PM    KEENE                     NH   TORNADO. TORNADO RTE 12
           CHESHIRE                       SOUTH OF KEENE...BUILDING
                                          DESTROYED ON FAIR GROUND.
                                          REPORTED BY PUBLIC

0715 PM    MARLO                     NH   TREES DOWN
           CHESHIRE

0740 PM    MARLBOROUGH               NH   BUILDING COLLAPSED,
           CHESHIRE                       TREES UPROOTED

AED

Local storm report, Jul 3, 8:18 PM EDT, 26 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
815 PM EDT THU JUl 3 1997

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

0640 PM    HEATH                     MA   TORNADO. TORNADO
           FRANKLIN                       ON GROUND PER FIRE DEPT.

0645 PM    WALPOLE                   NH   WIND DAMAGE
           CHESHIRE                       TREES DOWN PER POLICE DEPT.

0650 PM    HINSDALE                  NH   WIND DAMAGE
           CHESHIRE                       POSSIBLE TORNADO

0709 PM    CHARLEMONT                MA   TORNADO. TORNADO
           FRANKLIN                       ON GROUND ON RTE 2
                                          PER EMERGENCY PERSONNEL

0710 PM    CHARLEMONT                MA   WIND DAMAGE
           FRANKLIN                       WIRES DOWN

0710 PM    ALSTEAD                   NH   WIND DAMAGE
           CHESHIRE                       TREES AND WIRES DOWN

0710 PM    SWANSEY                   NH   WIND DAMAGE
           CHESHIRE                       TREES UPROOTED

0713 PM    KEENE                     NH   TORNADO. TORNADO RTE 12
           CHESHIRE                       SOUTH OF KEENE...BUILDING
                                          DESTROYED ON FAIR GROUND.
                                          REPORTED BY PUBLIC

0715 PM    MARLO                     NH   TREES DOWN
    R       CHESHIRE

0740 PM    MARLBOROUGH               NH   BUILDING COLLAPSED,
           CHESHIRE                       TREES UPROOTED

AED

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 3, 8:27 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BOX	Franklin, Worcester	63 min
Jul 3, 8:49 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Franklin	3 hr
Jul 3, 9:37 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Middlesex	68 min
Jul 3, 10:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Bristol, Plymouth	69 min
Jul 3, 11:23 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Barnstable	52 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Massachusetts, 1997 Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.