Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 3, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

February 22, 1997Middlesex County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 22, 1997, 2:31 PM EST for Middlesex County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 59 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
Feb 22, 1997, 2:31 PM EST (19:31 UTC)
Expired
Feb 22, 1997, 3:30 PM EST
In force
59 min
Issued by
NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area
Whole counties

County Middlesex County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 63 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:34 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
Feb 22, 2:40 PM ESTThunderstorm Wind 52Shirley, MAA gust to 60 mph was reported in Shirley.
Feb 22, 3:00 PM ESTThunderstorm Wind 50Dracut, MATrees and wires were reported blown down and a chimney was knocked down in Dracut at approximately 3:00 PM.

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

Chatham, MA (KCHH), launched 12:00Z, 7.5 hours before the alert went out and 148 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, Chatham, MA at 12:00Z on 1997-02-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Chatham, MA at 12:00Z on 1997-02-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 153 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
479 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
153 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
208 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 KBOS 221933 RRA
SVRBOS
MAC017-222030-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
231 PM EST SAT FEB 22 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  330 PM EST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN  MASSACHUSETTS
 
   ...MIDDLESEX COUNTY
 
A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDS FROM FITCHBURGH SOUTHWEST
TO NEAR PALMER AND IS MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH. THIS LINE WILL MOVE
INTO WESTERN MIDDLESEX COUNTY AROUND 245 PM.  DAMAGING WINDS AND
SMALL HAIL CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS.
 
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.
 
CZEPYHA

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 22, 2:06 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXWorcester39 min
Feb 22, 2:18 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXHampden22 min
Feb 22, 2:52 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXWorcester53 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.