Alert archive / Rhode Island / Flash Flood Warnings in 1998

Flash Flood Warning 54, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

June 30, 1998Providence County, Rhode Island

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this flash flood warning at Jun 30, 1998, 10:53 AM EDT for Providence County, Rhode Island. It was in force for 4 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jun 30, 1998, 10:53 AM EDT (14:53 UTC)
Expired: Jun 30, 1998, 2:55 PM EDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Whole counties

County Providence County, RI

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 38 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:52 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

Chatham, MA (KCHH), launched 12:00Z, 2.9 hours before the alert went out and 135 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: 957 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -40 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 536 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 70 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 105 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBOS 301454
FFWBOS
RIC007-301855-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
1053 AM EDT TUE JUN 30 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  PROVIDENCE COUNTY IN NORTHERN RHODE ISLAND

* UNTIL 255 PM EDT

* AT 1050 AM EDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN FROM WILIMANTIC CONNECTICUT
  NORTHEAST THROUGH PROVIDENCE COUNTY....MOVING NORTHEAST AT 2O MPH.

* TORRENTIAL RAINFALL OF OVER 2 INCHES IN THE PAST 3 HOURS HAS BEGUN
  TO PRODUCE RAPID RISES ON RIVERS AND STREAMS.  ANOTHER AREA OF
  TORRENTIAL RAIN WILL AFFECT PROVIDENCE COUNTY THROUGH 2 PM
  BRINGING STORM TOTALS TO 4 TO 5 INCHES IN SOME LOCATIONS.

SMALL RIVERS AND STREAMS WILL RISE RAPIDLY OUT OF THEIR BANKS AS
HEAVY RAINS CONTINUE.  BE READY TO TAKE ACTION QUICKLY SHOULD
FLASH FLOODING DEVELOP.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.

VALLEE/FAIR

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood 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, Jun 30, 9:30 AM EDT, 1 hour 23 minutes before

MAZ002>024-RIZALL-CTZ002>004-NHZ011>012-ANZ230>237-250-255-010000-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOSTON MA
930 AM EDT TUE JUN 30 1998

...ONE-TWO PUNCH OF HAZARDOUS WEATHER FOR SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND
TODAY...

AN AREA OF HEAVY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL SLOWLY PASS THROUGH
SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND THIS MORNING.  THESE STORMS WILL BRING BETWEEN
1 AND 2 INCHES OF RAIN BY EARLY AFTERNOON ACROSS MOST OF SOUTHERN
NEW ENGLAND...WITH SOME 3 TO 4 INCH TOTALS POSSIBLE.  EARLIER THIS
MORNING...TWO INCHES OF RAIN IN ONE HOUR WAS REPORTED IN
SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS BETWEEN 730 AM AND 830 AM.  THESE
TORRENTIAL RAINS WILL CAUSE LOCALIZED STREET FLOODING AND SMALL
RIVERS AND STREAMS TO RISE RAPIDLY THIS MORNING AND EARLY THIS
AFTERNOON...BRINGING ON THE POTENTIAL FOR FLASH FLOODING.

THERE SHOULD BE A BRIEF RESPITE FROM PRECIPITATION FOR AWHILE EARLY
THIS AFTERNOON.  HOWEVER...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL REDEVELOP
IN MID-TO-LATE AFTERNOON...POSING A THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER FOR
LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING.  SOME OF THESE
THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE STRONG DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL...ALONG
WITH THE POTENTIAL OF FLASH FLOODING.  THE MOST LIKELY AREA FOR
SEVERE WEATHER ASSOCIATED WITH THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE IN
EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS...INCLUDING CAPE COD AND THE ISLANDS...AND
RHODE ISLAND.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL MEDIA FOR THE LATEST
FORECASTS...WATCHES AND WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

JL

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Rhode Island, 1998 Every flash flood 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.