Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 56, NWS Albany, NY

July 20, 1998Berkshire County, Massachusetts

NWS Albany, NY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 20, 1998, 4:07 PM EDT for Berkshire County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 23 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
Jul 20, 1998, 4:07 PM EDT (20:07 UTC)
Expired
Jul 20, 1998, 4:30 PM EDT
In force
23 min
Issued by
NWS Albany, NY
Area
Whole counties

County Berkshire County, MA

The radar

The Albany radar (KENX), 74 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:08 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jul 20, 4:12 PM EDTThunderstorm WindPittsfield, MAA cold front moving east into Berkshire County triggered widely scattered severe thunderstorms. The storms brought down large limbs and power lines in the town of Pittsfield.

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

Albany, NY (KALY), launched 12:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 62 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 1998-07-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 3024 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 1998-07-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 47 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
3024 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-27 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
579 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
47 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
123 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.4
Supercell composite
13.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 20, 6:48 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningALYAlbany, Schoharie57 min
Jul 20, 1:55 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningALYSchoharie65 min
Jul 20, 2:03 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningALYMontgomery42 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Massachusetts, 1998Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1998

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.