Alert archive / Massachusetts / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 1, NWS Boston/Norton, MA
NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this tornado warning at Jul 3, 1997, 6:17 PM EDT for Hampden County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 58 min. 1 report 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
- Jul 3, 1997, 6:17 PM EDT (22:17 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 3, 1997, 7:15 PM EDT
- In force
- 58 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 22:17 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 3, 6:30 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Blandford, MA |
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 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 12:00Z, 10.3 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 901 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -44 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 598 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 94 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 101 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.3
- Supercell composite
- 1.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KBOS 032218 RRA TORBOS MAC013-032315- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA 617 PM EDT THU JUL 3 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 715 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN WEST MASSACHUSETTS ...WESTERN HAMPDEN COUNTY AT 612 PM...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO IN MONTEREY IN SOUTHEAST BERKSHIRE COUNTY. IT WILL MOVE INTO WESTERN HAMPDEN COUNTY AFFECTING THE TOWNS OF CHESTER AND BLANDFORD BY 630 PM. THIS TORNADO WARNING IS AN UPGRADE OF THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR WESTERN HAMPDEN COUNTY. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS... OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 3, 5:45 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOX | Franklin | 30 min |
| Jul 3, 6:10 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOX | Hampden, Hampshire | 65 min |
| Jul 3, 6:46 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | BOX | Franklin | 59 min |
| Jul 3, 6:48 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | BOX | Hampshire | 57 min |
| Jul 3, 7:02 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOX | Hampden, Hampshire | 43 min |
| Jul 3, 7:37 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | BOX | Worcester | 53 min |
| Jul 3, 7:44 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOX | Franklin, Hampshire | 61 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Massachusetts, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.