Alert archive / New York / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 33, NWS Buffalo, NY

July 18, 1997Niagara County, Orleans County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 18, 1997, 4:39 PM EDT for Niagara County, Orleans County, New York. It was in force for 66 min. 2 reports 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 18, 1997, 4:39 PM EDT (20:39 UTC)
Expired: Jul 18, 1997, 5:45 PM EDT
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Buffalo, NY
Area: Whole counties

Counties Niagara County, NY, Orleans County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 38 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:42 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 18, 4:45 PM EDT	Hail 1	North Tonawanda, NY
Jul 18, 5:15 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Medina, 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jul 18, 1:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 38 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: 7 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -94 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1353 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 132 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KBUF 182038 RRA
SVRBUF
NYC063-073-NYZ523-524-182145-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND SPECIAL MARINE WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
439 PM EDT FRI JUL 18 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO NY HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND SPECIAL MARINE WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 545 PM
EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WESTERN NEW YORK

   ...NIAGARA COUNTY
   ...ORLEANS COUNTY

AND THE ADJACENT NEARSHORE WATERS OF THE GREAT LAKES...
 
AT 435 PM...BUFFALO DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER
LAKE ONTARIO FROM NEAR TORONTO TO 10 MILES NORTH OF OLCOTT. THESE
STORMS WERE MOVING TOWARD THE SOUTHEAST AT 35 MILES AN HOUR AND WILL
MOVE ONSHORE BETWEEN WILSON AND POINT BREEZE BY 500 PM AND THEN TO
MEDINA AND LOCKPORT BY 530 PM. THESE STORMS CAN BE ACCOMPANIED BY LARGE
HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND POSSIBLE WATERSPOUTS ON THE LAKE.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH
AND/OR HAIL 3/4 INCH OR LARGER. FOR YOUR PROTECTION FROM
POTENTIALLY DAMAGING WINDS...MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS. HEAVY RAINS MAY ALSO CAUSE RAPID
FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. DON'T ARTTEMPT TO
CROSS FLOODED ROADWAYS.

MCLAUGHLIN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 18, 1:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Chautauqua	59 min
Jul 18, 2:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Jefferson	60 min
Jul 18, 2:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Cattaraugus	80 min
Jul 18, 3:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Allegany	79 min
Jul 18, 3:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Lewis	60 min
Jul 18, 4:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Erie	95 min
Jul 18, 5:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Genesee	63 min
Jul 18, 6:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Cattaraugus, Wyoming	62 min
Jul 18, 7:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Erie	45 min
Jul 18, 7:49 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Cattaraugus	61 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.