Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 13, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

May 29, 1998Essex County, Middlesex County, Worcester County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 29, 1998, 6:33 PM EDT for Essex County, Middlesex County, Worcester County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 62 min. 3 reports 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 29, 1998, 6:33 PM EDT (22:33 UTC)
Expired: May 29, 1998, 7:35 PM EDT
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Essex County, MA, Middlesex County, MA, Worcester County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 63 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:34 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

Time	Report	Where
May 29, 6:45 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Tyngsboro, MA
May 29, 7:00 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Billerica, MA
May 29, 7:00 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Newbury, MA

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.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 29, 3:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Chatham, MA (KCHH), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 149 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1502 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 43 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.

000 
TTAA00 KBOS 292233 RRA
SVRBOS
ANZ250-CTC003-013-015-MAC009-017-027-292335-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
633 PM EDT FRI MAY 29 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  WORCESTER COUNTY IN CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS
  MIDDLESEX COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
  NORTHERN ESSEX COUNTY INCLUDING ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS IN
  NORTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
  SOUTHERN HARTFORD COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL CONNECTICUT
  TOLLAND COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT
  WINDHAM COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT

* UNTIL 735 PM EDT

  THIS WARNING REPLACES ALL OTHER WARNINGS PREVIOUSLY ISSUED FOR
  SOME OF THE COUNTIES NAMED.


* AT 630 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM JUST WEST OF PORTSMOUTH NEW
  HAMPSHIRE SOUTHWEST THROUGH WORCESTER AND THEN INTO CENTRAL
  HARTFORD COUNTY OF CONNECTICU. THIS LINE IS MOVING SOUTHEAST
  AT 25 TO 30 MPH AND SLOWED ABIT AS THE STORMS HAVE INTENSIFIED.

* A FEW OF THE LARGER CITIES IN/NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM
  INCLUDE...LOWELL AND WORCESTER.


SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND/OR WINDS STRONG ENOUGH
TO KNOCK DOWN TREES AND POWER LINES.  MOVE INDOORS AND STAY AWAY
FROM WINDOWS.

LJC/DRAG

The office that day

Everything else NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 29, 5:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Hampden, Hampshire	31 min
May 29, 5:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Franklin	29 min
May 29, 5:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Worcester	46 min
May 29, 5:49 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Hampden, Hampshire	46 min
May 29, 6:03 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Middlesex, Worcester	42 min
May 29, 7:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk	44 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Massachusetts, 1998 Every 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.