Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 73, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

August 9, 1997Hampden County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 9, 1997, 5:11 PM EDT for Hampden County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 49 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
Aug 9, 1997, 5:11 PM EDT (21:11 UTC)
Expired
Aug 9, 1997, 6:00 PM EDT
In force
49 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 21:12 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, 9.2 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 1997-08-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2 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 1997-08-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 44 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
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-219 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1304 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
44 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
41 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 092108 RRA
SVRBOS
MAC013-092200-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
511 PM EDT SAT AUG 9 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  600 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST MASSACHUSETTS
 
   ...HAMPDEN COUNTY
 
AT 510 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR BRIMFIELD MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH. IT WILL MOVE THROUGH WALES AND HOLLAND BY 530 PM.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME O>R 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 9, 3:04 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXBristol, Norfolk56 min
Aug 9, 3:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXMiddlesex60 min
Aug 9, 6:53 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXWorcester52 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.