Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 39, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

May 31, 1998Norfolk County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1998, 10:30 PM EDT for Norfolk County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 45 min. 2 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, 10:30 PM EDT (02:30 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1998, 11:15 PM EDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Whole counties

County Norfolk County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 24 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:33 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, 10:43 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Medfield, MA
May 31, 11:00 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Brookline, 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, 2.5 hours before the alert went out and 115 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.

543 
WUUS1 KBOS 010229 RRA
SVRBOS
MAC021-010315-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
1030 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NORFOLK COUNTY IN EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS

* UNTIL 1115 PM EDT

* AT 1125 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 
A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO WESTERN NORFOLK 
COUNTY...MOVING EAST NEAR 50 MPH.

* TOWNS IN/NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...
BELLLINGHAM...FRANKLIN AND MEDWAY. 

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.

RMT/DRV/JL

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, 10:19 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Middlesex	66 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.