Alert archive / New York / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 3, NWS Buffalo, NY

May 19, 1997Cattaraugus County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 19, 1997, 5:31 PM EDT for Cattaraugus County, New York. It was in force for 44 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: May 19, 1997, 5:31 PM EDT (21:31 UTC)
Expired: May 19, 1997, 6:15 PM EDT
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Buffalo, NY
Area: Whole counties

County Cattaraugus County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:31 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
May 19, 5:35 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Randolph, NY

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

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 76 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 493 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 222 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 248 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.

746 
WUUS1 KBUF 192129 RRA
SVRBUF
NYC009-192220-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
531 PM EDT MON MAY 19 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO NY HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 615 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WEST NEW YORK

   ...CATTARAUGUS COUNTY
 
AT 525 PM...DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS FROM OTTO TO RANDOLPH MOVING EAST AT 40 MILES AN HOUR.
THIS LINE OF STORMS WILL REACH ELLICOTTVILLE...ALLEGANY STATE PARK AND
SALAMANCA BY 545 PM AND OLEAN BY 600 PM. DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL
ARE POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS.
 
IF YOU ARE OUTDOORS...MOVE TO A PLACE OF SHELTER IF A STORM
APPROACHES.  MOTORISTS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT FOR REDUCED VISIBILITIES
DURING DOWNPOURS OF RAIN.

HIBBERT

The office that day

Everything else NWS Buffalo, NY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 19, 4:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Chautauqua	47 min
May 19, 5:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Wyoming	45 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in New York, 1997 Every 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.