Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 37, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

May 31, 1998Middlesex County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1998, 10:19 PM EDT for Middlesex County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 66 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 31, 1998, 10:19 PM EDT (02:19 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1998, 11:25 PM EDT
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Whole counties

County Middlesex County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 63 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:18 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 31, 10:20 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Marlboro Arpt, MA
May 31, 10:50 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 70	Hopkinton, MA
May 31, 10:55 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Waltham, 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, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 148 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.

519 
WUUS1 KBOS 010227 RRA
SVRBOS
MAC017-010320-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING...RETRANSMITTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
1019 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  MIDDLESEX COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS

* UNTIL 1125 PM EDT

* AT 1016 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER WORCESTER...MOVING EAST NEAR 50 MPH.

* TOWNS IN/NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...
  AYER SOUTH TO HOPKINTON BY 1025 PM
  MAYNARD AND CONCORD SOUTH THROUGH FRAMINGHAM BY 1035 PM
  BEDFORD THROUGH NATICK AND SHERBORN BY 1045 PM

THESE STORMS PRODUCED A WIND GUST TO 94 MPH AT WORCESTER AIRPORT.

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, 9:43 PM EDT, 36 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

Local storm report, May 31, 9:56 PM EDT, 23 minutes before

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

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

0945 PM    WINDSOR                   CT   65 MPH TSTM GUST
05/31/98   HARTFORD                       SPOTTER REPORT...CONFIRMED
                                          BY TREES DOWN PER PD

0951 PM    WINDSOR LOCKS             CT   61 MPH TSTM GUST
05/31/98   HARTFORD                       BRADLEY INTERNATIONAL ASOS

Local storm report, May 31, 10:00 PM EDT, 19 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
1000 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

0946 PM    CHICOPEE                  MA   .75 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   HAMPDEN

Local storm report, May 31, 10:00 PM EDT, 19 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
1000 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

0946 PM    CHICOPEE                  MA   .75 INCH HAIL
05/31/98   HAMPDEN

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

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
1010 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

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

1008 PM    NEW BRAINTREE             MA   WIND DAMAGE
05/31/98   WORCESTER                      MULTIPLE TREES AND
                                          POWERLINES DOWN.  DIME
                                          SIZED HAIL ALSO.

Local storm report, May 31, 10:17 PM EDT, 2 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
1017 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

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

1012 PM    WORCESTER                 MA   94 MPH TSTM GUST
05/31/98   WORCESTER                      ASOS WIND REPORT. TIME
                                          ESTIMATED AT THIS TIME

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, 9:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Worcester	62 min
May 31, 10:05 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BOX	Worcester	35 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.