Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 34, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

July 7, 1997Hampden County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 7, 1997, 12:40 PM EDT for Hampden County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 65 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 7, 1997, 12:40 PM EDT (16:40 UTC)
Expired
Jul 7, 1997, 1:45 PM EDT
In force
65 min
Issued by
NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area
Whole counties

County Hampden County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 125 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:43 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Albany, NY (KALY), launched 12:00Z, 4.7 hours before the alert went out and 116 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, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 1997-07-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 67 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 1997-07-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 37 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
67 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-130 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1519 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
54 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 071640 RRA
SVRBOS
MAC013-071745-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
1240 PM EDT MON JUL 7 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  145 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST MASSACHUSETTS
 
   ...HAMPDEN COUNTY
 
AT 1240 PM...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THAT A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WAS MOVING ALONG THE HAMPSHIRE/HAMPDEN COUNTY BORDER. THIS
STORM WAS MOVING EAST AND WILL EXPAND INTO HAMPDEN COUNTY. LARGE HAIL
AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE LIKELY AS THIS STORM MOVES ALONG THE COUNTY
BORDER FROM HOLYOKE AND CHICOPEE EAST THROUGH LUDLOW AND PALMER.  THIS
STORM HAS PRODUCED DIME SIZE HAIL IN SOUTH HADLEY.
 
ANOTHER THUNDERSTORM WAS DEVELOPING NEAR AGAWAM AND WEST SPRINGFIELD.
THIS THUNDERSTORM MAY ALSO BECOME SEVERE AS IT MOVES NORTHEAST ACROSS
HAMPDEN COUNTY THROUGH 130 PM.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DON'T USE TELEPHONES
OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM
HAS PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.
 
ETV/DRV

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 7, 12:36 PM EDT, 4 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
1236 PM EDT MON JUL 7 1997

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

1226 PM    SOUTH HADLEY              MA   .75 HAIL
07/07/97   HAMPSHIRE

JL
Local storm report, Jul 7, 12:37 PM EDT, 3 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
1236 PM EDT MON JUL 7 1997

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

1226 PM    SOUTH HADLEY              MA   .75 HAIL
07/07/97   HAMPSHIRE

JL

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 7, 12:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXHampshire60 min
Jul 7, 2:42 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXNorfolk, Worcester63 min
Jul 7, 3:41 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXNorfolk, Plymouth64 min
Jul 7, 3:56 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXWorcester64 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.