Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 21, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

May 31, 1998Essex County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1998, 12:06 PM EDT for Essex County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 44 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, 12:06 PM EDT (16:06 UTC)
Expired
May 31, 1998, 12:50 PM EDT
In force
44 min
Issued by
NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area
Whole counties

County Essex County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 79 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:08 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, 12:10 PM EDTHail 0.75Peabody, 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 nearest sounding before it

Chatham, MA (KCHH), launched 12:00Z, 4.1 hours before the alert went out and 131 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, Chatham, MA 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, Chatham, MA at 12:00Z on 1998-05-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 198 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
2280 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
198 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
308 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.

614 
WUUS1 KBOS 311607 RRA
SVRBOS
ANZ250-MAC009-311650-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
1206 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  ESSEX COUNTY INCLUDING ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS IN NORTHEASTERN
  MASSACHUSETTS

* UNTIL 1250 PM EDT

* AT 1205 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM JUST SOUTH OF DRACUT... MOVING EAST
  NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

* TOWNS IN/NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...
  ANDOVER...BOXFORD...ROWLEY AND THEN THE PLUM ISLAND AREA BY
  1245
  PM

THIS STORM HAS PRODUCED LARGE HAIL AND KNOCKED DOWN SMALL TREES
ACROSS WORCESTER AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO
SO IN ITS TRACK ACROSS ESSEX COUNTY.  MOST RECENTLY DIME TO NICKEL
SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED IN THE LOWELL AREA.


DRAG/THOMPSON

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 31, 11:03 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXWorcester47 min
May 31, 11:46 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXMiddlesex44 min
May 31, 5:25 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXFranklin, Hampshire60 min
May 31, 5:30 PM EDTTornado WarningBOXFranklin50 min
May 31, 5:39 PM EDTTornado WarningBOXHampshire46 min
May 31, 5:53 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXWorcester47 min
May 31, 6:13 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXMiddlesex47 min
May 31, 6:23 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXFranklin32 min
May 31, 6:34 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXEssex61 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.