Alert archive / Massachusetts / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

July 3, 1997Franklin County, Worcester County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this tornado warning at Jul 3, 1997, 8:27 PM EDT for Franklin County, Worcester County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 63 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, 8:27 PM EDT (00:27 UTC)
Expired: Jul 3, 1997, 9:30 PM EDT
In force: 63 min
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Franklin County, MA, Worcester County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 108 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:27 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 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, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 132 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 040028 RRA
TORBOS
MAC027-011-040130-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
827 PM EDT THU JUL 3 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  930 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS
 
   ...NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY
 
IN WEST MASSACHUSETTS
 
   ...EASTERN FRANKLIN COUNTY
 
AT 820 PM...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A TORNADO IN THE
LEVERETT/MONTAGUE AREA. IT IS MOVING EAST AND WILL PASS ACROSS
SHUTESBURY...NEW SALEM INTO NORTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY INCLUDING
PETERSHAM AND ATHOL EASTWARD BY 930 PM.
 
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CONTINUED TO MOVE ACROSS HARDWICK AND NEW
BRAINTREE THROUGH NORTH BROOKFIELD.  THIS STORM HAS HAD A HISTORY OF
PRODUCING TORNADOES.  THIS STORM WILL MOVE EAST ACROSS PARTS OF NORTHERN
WORCESTER COUNTY INCLUDING HOLDEN AND BOYLSTON BY 930 PM.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET IN`TO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
 
DRV/GF

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 3, 8:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Hampshire	61 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

Tornado Warnings in Massachusetts, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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.