Alert archive / New York / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 562

July 3, 19974 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 3, 1997, 4:00 PM EDT for 4 states. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 3, 1997, 4:00 PM EDT (20:00 UTC)
Expired: Jul 3, 1997, 10:00 PM EDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 43 counties

Berkshire County, MA, Franklin County, MA, Hampden County, MA, Hampshire County, MA, Worcester County, MA, Bergen County, NJ, Essex County, NJ, Hudson County, NJ, Hunterdon County, NJ, Middlesex County, NJ, Morris County, NJ, Passaic County, NJ, Somerset County, NJ, Sussex County, NJ, Union County, NJ, Warren County, NJ, Bronx County, NY, Columbia County, NY, Delaware County, NY, Dutchess County, NY, Greene County, NY, Kings County, NY, Nassau County, NY, New York County, NY, Orange County, NY, Putnam County, NY, Queens County, NY, Richmond County, NY, Rockland County, NY, Suffolk County, NY, Sullivan County, NY, Ulster County, NY, Westchester County, NY, Bucks County, PA, Carbon County, PA, Lackawanna County, PA, Lehigh County, PA, Monroe County, PA, Montgomery County, PA, Northampton County, PA, Pike County, PA, Susquehanna County, PA, Wayne County, PA

Warnings issued inside it

20 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 3, 4:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ALY	Columbia	63 min
Jul 3, 5:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ALY	Berkshire	70 min
Jul 3, 5:15 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ALY	Berkshire	60 min
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, 6:14 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ALY	Berkshire	61 min
Jul 3, 6:17 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BOX	Hampden	58 min
Jul 3, 6:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OKX	Putnam, Westchester	52 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, 6:48 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	OKX	Westchester	42 min
Jul 3, 7:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Hampden, Hampshire	43 min
Jul 3, 7:08 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ALY	Berkshire	67 min
Jul 3, 7:16 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ALY	Berkshire	59 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
Jul 3, 8:17 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ALY	Berkshire	43 min
Jul 3, 8:27 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BOX	Franklin, Worcester	63 min
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

The nearest sounding before it

Albany, NY (KALY), launched 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 125 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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

011 
WWUS9 KMKC 031927
SEL2  
MKC WW 031927
NYZ000-CTZ000-MAZ000-NJZ000-PAZ000-040200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 562
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
327 PM EDT THU JUL 3 1997

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   SOUTHEAST NEW YORK                           
   CONNECTICUT                        
   WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS                      
   NORTHERN NEW JERSEY                         
   EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA                       

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 400 PM UNTIL
1000 PM EDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 3/4 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 70 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 15 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF WILKESBARRE
PENNSYLVANIA TO 30 MILES SOUTH OF WORCESTER MASSACHUSETTS.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 559...WW 560...WW 561...

DISCUSSION...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO INCREASE EASTERN NY
WITH APPROACH OF STRONG MID/UPPER JET.  WIND PROFILES FAVORABLY
SHEARED FOR SUPERCELLS AND TORNADOES.  WITH AIRMASS CONTINUE TO
DESTABILIZE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP FURTHER S INTO
EASTERN PA AND NORTHERN NJ.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 3/4 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
500.  MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 26030.


...HALES

420,0754 425,0715 404,0715 400,0754

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 2, 9:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Allegany, Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee and 11 more	5 hr
Jul 3, 11:15 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Albany, Broome, Cayuga, Chenango, Columbia, Cortland and 22 more	6 hr
Jul 2, 8:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Fayette, Greene, Somerset	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in New York, 1997 Tornado Watches in New Jersey, 1997 Tornado Watches in Pennsylvania, 1997 Every tornado watch 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.