Alert archive / New Jersey / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 96, NWS New York, NY
NWS New York, NY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 16, 1997, 5:00 PM EDT for Essex County, Union County, New Jersey. It was in force for 60 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
- Aug 16, 1997, 5:00 PM EDT (21:00 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 16, 1997, 6:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 60 min
- Issued by
- NWS New York, NY
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Essex County, NJ, Union County, NJ
The radar
The Philadelphia radar (KDIX), 87 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:03 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 16, 5:15 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Caldwell Arpt, NJ | |
| Aug 16, 5:15 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 56 | Roselle, NJ |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 16, 3:00 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Brookhaven, NY (KOKX), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 120 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
- 1064 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -71 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 834 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 147 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 179 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.5
- Supercell composite
- 5.7
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KNYC 162059 RRA SVRNYC NJC003-013-031-039-NYC087-162215- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY 500 PM EDT SAT AUG 16 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEW YORK HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 600 PM EDT FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY ...BERGEN COUNTY...ESSEX COUNTY...EASTERN PASSAIC COUNTY ...UNION COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NEW YORK ...ROCKLAND COUNTY AN AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS MOVING QUICKLY AT 40 MPH WILL MOVE INTO ROCKLAND COUNTY OF NEW YORK...AND INTO EASTERN PASSAIC...ESSEX...UNION AND BERGEN COUNTIES OF NEW JERSEY BY 515 PM. THESE STORMS HAVE A HISTORY OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WIND GUSTS...HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND LARGE HAIL. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 58 MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS. HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD. PW
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Aug 16, 3:36 PM EDT, 1 hour 24 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND WEATHER MAP DISCUSSION FOR EXTREME SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK... NORTHEASTERN NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY 336 PM EDT SAT AUG 16 1997 ...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR MUCH OF SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK...NORTHEASTERN NEW JERSEY AND FAIRFIELD AND NEW HAVEN COUNTIES OF SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT UNTIL 9PM... ...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A HEAT ADVISORY FOR THE NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY METRO AREAS TONIGHT AND SUNDAY... THE LEADING EDGE OF HOT...HAZY AND HUMID AIR...A WARM FRONT MOVED NORTH OF THE REGION OVERNIGHT. THIS PUT THE TRI-STATE REGION IN A TROPICAL AIRMASS. AS MIGHT BE EXPECTED WITH A TROPICAL AIRMASS... IT WAS HOT AND MUGGY. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS HAD FORMED ACROSS INTERIOR NEW YORK AND PENNSYLVANIA. SOME OF THESE STORMS HAD VERY STRONG DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. ADDITIONALLY ALL OF THEM HAD PRODUCED COPIOUS LIGHTNING. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT ACROSS MOST OF THE TRI-STATE THROUGH 9PM. CONDITIONS ARE RIPE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TO FORM. DEW POINTS...WHICH ARE A MEASURE OF ATMOSPHERIC HUMIDITY...WILL BE IN THE MID 70S AGAIN ON SUNDAY WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES IN THE 90S ACROSS MOST OF THE REGION. THIS WILL PRODUCE HEAT INDEX VALUES ANYWHERE FROM 95 TO 105 DEGREES SUNDAY AFTERNOON. OVERNIGHT HEAT INDEX VALUES WONT BE MUCH BELOW 80 DEGREES. REMEMBER THAT THUNDERSTORMS...EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT SEVERE ARE STILL DANGEROUS BECAUSE OF THE LIGHTNING THEY PRODUCE. USE COMMON SENSE AND GET IN OUT OF THE RAIN IF YOU GET CAUGHT IN A THUNDERSTORM. WOOLDRIDGE
Special weather statement, Aug 16, 3:38 PM EDT, 1 hour 22 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND WEATHER MAP DISCUSSION FOR EXTREME SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK... NORTHEASTERN NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY 336 PM EDT SAT AUG 16 1997 ...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR MUCH OF SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK...NORTHEASTERN NEW JERSEY AND FAIRFIELD AND NEW HAVEN COUNTIES OF SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT UNTIL 9PM... ...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A HEAT ADVISORY FOR THE NEW YORK/NEW JERSEY METRO AREAS TONIGHT AND SUNDAY... THE LEADING EDGE OF HOT...HAZY AND HUMID AIR...A WARM FRONT MOVED NORTH OF THE REGION OVERNIGHT. THIS PUT THE TRI-STATE REGION IN A TROPICAL AIRMASS. AS MIGHT BE EXPECTED WITH A TROPICAL AIRMASS... IT WAS HOT AND MUGGY. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS HAD FORMED ACROSS INTERIOR NEW YORK AND PENNSYLVANIA. SOME OF THESE STORMS HAD VERY STRONG DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. ADDITIONALLY ALL OF THEM HAD PRODUCED COPIOUS LIGHTNING. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT ACROSS MOST OF THE TRI-STATE THROUGH 9PM. CONDITIONS ARE RIPE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TO FORM. DEW POINTS...WHICH ARE A MEASURE OF ATMOSPHERIC HUMIDITY...WILL BE IN THE MID 70S AGAIN ON SUNDAY WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES IN THE 90S ACROSS MOST OF THE REGION. THIS WILL PRODUCE HEAT INDEX VALUES ANYWHERE FROM 95 TO 105 DEGREES SUNDAY AFTERNOON. OVERNIGHT HEAT INDEX VALUES WONT BE MUCH BELOW 80 DEGREES. REMEMBER THAT THUNDERSTORMS...EVEN IF .THEY ARE NOT SEVERE ARE STILL DANGEROUS BECAUSE OF THE LIGHTNING THEY PRODUCE. USE COMMON SENSE AND GET IN OUT OF THE RAIN IF YOU GET CAUGHT IN A THUNDERSTORM. WOOLDRIDGE
The office that day
Everything else NWS New York, NY issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 16, 4:22 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OKX | Passaic | 83 min |
| Aug 16, 5:00 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OKX | Bergen, Passaic | 60 min |
| Aug 16, 5:13 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OKX | Hudson | 77 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in New Jersey, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.