Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 8, NWS Albany, NY

May 20, 1998Berkshire County, Massachusetts

NWS Albany, NY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 20, 1998, 4:56 PM EDT for Berkshire County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 34 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 20, 1998, 4:56 PM EDT (20:56 UTC)
Expired
May 20, 1998, 5:30 PM EDT
In force
34 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 20:56 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Albany, NY (KALY), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 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 1998-05-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1998-05-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 43 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1160 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
43 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
78 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.

148 
WUUS1 KALB 202058 RRA
SVRALB
MAC003-202130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
456 PM EDT WED MAY 20 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ALBANY HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  BERKSHIRE COUNTY IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS

* UNTIL 530 PM EDT

* AT 452 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM EAST OF PITTSFIELD... MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  PERU AT 510 PM EDT

DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE LIKELY. GO INSIDE A STURDY
BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS

HTS

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

Local storm report, May 20, 4:52 PM EDT, 4 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
452 PM EDT WED MAY 20 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0448 PM    CHESTERTOWN               NY   .88 INCH HAIL
05/20/98   WARREN                         NY STATE POLICE REPORTED
                                          NICKEL SIZE HAIL IN
                                          CHESTERTOWN AT 1620 EDT.

ALBLSRALB
TTAA00 KALB 202203

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
602 PM EDT WED MAY 20 1998
TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0517 PM    FISHKILL                  NY   .75 INCH HAIL
05/20/98   DUTCHESS                       DIME-SIZE HAIL WITH VERY
                                          HEAVY RAIN

0519 PM    BEACON                    NY   .75 INCH HAIL
05/20/98   DUTCHESS

0525 PM    POUGHKEEPSIE              NY   WIND DAMAGE
05/20/98   DUTCHESS                       DOWNED 3 INCH DIAMETER
                                          TREE LIMBS

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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.