Alert archive / Vermont / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Albany, NY

May 31, 1998Windham County, Vermont

NWS Albany, NY issued this tornado warning at May 31, 1998, 5:05 PM EDT for Windham County, Vermont. It was in force for 70 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
May 31, 1998, 5:05 PM EDT (21:05 UTC)
Expired
May 31, 1998, 6:15 PM EDT
In force
70 min
Issued by
NWS Albany, NY
Area
Whole counties

County Windham County, VT

The radar

The Albany radar (KENX), 119 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:08 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
May 31, 5:42 PM EDTThunderstorm WindBattleboro, VT

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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 31, 3:00 PM EDTTornado WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Albany, NY (KALY), launched 12:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 97 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 1998-05-31Temperature 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°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 1998-05-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 188 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1673 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
188 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
264 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

274 
WFUS1 KALB 312103 RRA
TORALB
VTC025-312215-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
505 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ALBANY NY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WINDHAM  COUNTY IN SOUTHERN VERMONT

* UNTIL 615 PM EDT

* AT 504 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR AND LAW 
  ENFORCEMENT REPORTS INDICATE A POSSIBLE TORNADO
  NEAR BENNINGTON IN BENNINGTON COUNTY MOVING EAST AT ABOUT 
  50 MILES AN HOUR TNTO WINDHAM COUNTY. THIS IS A DANGEROUS 
  SITUATION...TAKE COVER NOW

* THE TORNDAO WILL BE NEAR...
  STRATTON AT  515 PM
  5 MILES NORTH OF NEWFANE AT  525 PM
  SAXTONS RIVER AT  540 PM

IF YOU LIVE IN THIS AREA BE READY TO SEEK SHELTER IN A BASEMENT
OR SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST LEVEL...AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 31, 4:16 PM EDTTornado WarningALYBennington74 min
May 31, 7:06 PM EDTTornado WarningALYBennington59 min
May 31, 7:23 PM EDTTornado WarningALYWindham67 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Vermont, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes 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.