Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 64, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

July 16, 1998Franklin County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 16, 1998, 4:10 PM EDT for Franklin County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 45 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
Jul 16, 1998, 4:10 PM EDT (20:10 UTC)
Expired
Jul 16, 1998, 4:55 PM EDT
In force
45 min
Issued by
NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area
Whole counties

County Franklin County, MA

The radar

The Albany radar (KENX), 121 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:14 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
Jul 16, 4:30 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 50Erving, 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

Albany, NY (KALY), launched 12:00Z, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 102 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, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 1998-07-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 750 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 1998-07-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 39 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
750 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-31 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
643 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
39 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
32 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 162010 RRA
SVRBOS
MAC011-162055-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
410 PM EDT THU JUL 16 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN FRANKLIN COUNTY IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS

* UNTIL 455 PM EDT

* AT 405 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN WESTERN MONTAGUE...DRIFTING SLOWLY EAST.

* TOWNS IN/NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...
  MONTAGUE THROUGH 430 PM
  GILL THROUGH 430 PM
  ERVING THROUGH 430 PM
  WENDELL AT 435 PM

THIS STORM HAS HAD A HISTORY OF PRODUCING QUARTER SIZE HAIL.

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

DRV/WB

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, Jul 16, 3:43 PM EDT, 27 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MASSACHUSETTS
343 PM EDT THU JUL 16 1998

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

0300 PM    GREENFIELD                MA   1 INCH HAIL
07/16/98   FRANKLIN                       REPORTED BY POLICE.

0305 PM    MONTAGUE CITY             MA   1 INCH HAIL
07/16/98   FRANKLIN                       REPORTED BY POLICE.

0325 PM    GREENFIELD                MA   .75 INCH HAIL
07/16/98   FRANKLIN                       REPORTED BY NWS SPOTTER.

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.