Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 34, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

May 31, 1998Worcester County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1998, 9:53 PM EDT for Worcester County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 62 min. 11 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 31, 1998, 9:53 PM EDT (01:53 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1998, 10:55 PM EDT
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Whole counties

County Worcester County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 77 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:53 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	Remark
May 31, 10:08 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	New Braintree, MA
May 31, 10:10 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Charlton, MA
May 31, 10:11 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 82	Worcester, MA	Worcester Municipal Airport
May 31, 10:15 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 90	Worcester, MA	Worcester Holy Cross College
May 31, 10:15 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 70	New Braintree, MA
May 31, 10:18 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	West Brookfield, MA
May 31, 10:20 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60	Leominster, MA
May 31, 10:20 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 70	Grafton, MA
May 31, 10:25 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 80	Worcester, MA
May 31, 10:30 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60	Westborough, MA
May 31, 10:35 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60	Upton, 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 31, 5:45 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr
May 31, 8:00 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Chatham, MA (KCHH), launched 00:00Z, 1.9 hours before the alert went out and 177 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: 1405 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 92 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 127 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.

248 
WUUS1 KBOS 010154 RRA
SVRBOS
MAC027-010255-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  WORCESTER COUNTY IN CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS

* UNTIL 1055 PM EDT

* AT 945 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ON A LINE FROM AMHERST TO WESTFIELD IN
  HAMPSHIRE AND HAMPDEN...MOVING EAST NEAR 35 MPH.

* TOWNS IN/NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...
  WEST BROOKFIELD...NEW BRAINTREE AND HARDWICK BY 10 PM
  SPENCER...OAKHAM...PAXTON AND RUTLAND BY 1015 PM
  WORCESTER...HOLDEN AND WEST BOYLSTON BY 1030 PM

THESE STORMS HAVE BEEN PRODUCING HIGH WINDS AND LARGE HAIL AS THEY
HAVE MOVED THROUGH HAMPDEN AND HAMPSHIRE COUNTIES.

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.  REMEMBER
THAT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.

DRV/JL

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 31, 9:07 PM EDT, 46 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
907 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

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

0830 PM    SURRY                     NH   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   CHESHIRE                       FROM FAMILY OF THE POLICE
                                          CHIEF

Local storm report, May 31, 9:10 PM EDT, 43 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
910 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

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

0907 PM    BUCKLAND                  MA   .75 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   FRANKLIN                       HAM RADIO OPR REPORT

Local storm report, May 31, 9:37 PM EDT, 16 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
937 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

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

0930 PM    SOUTH HADLEY              MA   .75 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   HAMPSHIRE

0935 PM    CHICOPEE                  MA   .75 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   HAMPDEN

Local storm report, May 31, 9:37 PM EDT, 16 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
937 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

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

0930 PM    SOUTH HADLEY              MA   .75 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   HAMPSHIRE

0935 PM    CHICOPEE                  MA   .75 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   HAMPDEN

Local storm report, May 31, 9:40 PM EDT, 13 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
940 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

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

0932 PM    GRANBY                    MA   .75 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   HAMPSHIRE

Local storm report, May 31, 9:43 PM EDT, 10 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
943 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

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

0940 PM    WEST SPRINGFIELD          MA   .75 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   HAMPDEN                        HAM RADIO OPERATOR

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 8:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Franklin	50 min
May 31, 8:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Hampshire	50 min
May 31, 9:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Hampden	61 min
May 31, 9:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Hampshire	64 min
May 31, 10:05 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BOX	Worcester	35 min
May 31, 10:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Middlesex	66 min
May 31, 10:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Norfolk	45 min
May 31, 10:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Bristol	47 min
May 31, 10:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Essex, Suffolk	49 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.