Alert archive / Massachusetts / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

May 31, 1998Franklin County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this tornado warning at May 31, 1998, 5:30 PM EDT for Franklin County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 50 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, 5:30 PM EDT (21:30 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1998, 6:20 PM EDT
In force: 50 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 21:34 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, 5:30 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60	Shelburne Falls, MA
May 31, 5:50 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 59	Greenfield, MA
May 31, 6:10 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60	Northfield, 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, 3:00 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Albany, NY (KALY), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 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-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: 1673 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 188 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 264 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

521 
WFUS1 KBOS 312131 RRA
TORBOS
MAC011-312220-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
530 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  FRANKLIN COUNTY IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS

* UNTIL 620 PM EDT

* AT 527 PM EDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A TORNADO NEAR NORTH ADAMS IN BERKSHIRE COUNTY... MOVING EAST NEAR
  50 MPH.

* TOWNS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...
  HAWLEY...CHARLEMONT...AND MONROE AND ROWE BY 545 PM
  COLRAIN...SHELBURN AND BUCKLAND AND HEATH BY 6 PM.
  THIS STORM MAY REACH GREENFIELD AND LEYDER AND BERNARDSTON BY
  615 PM

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM - TAKE COVER NOW IN THE BASEMENT
OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  PROTECT YOUR
BODY FROM FLYING DEBRIS WITH BLANKETS OR PILLOWS.

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, 11:03 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Worcester	47 min
May 31, 11:46 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Middlesex	44 min
May 31, 12:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Essex	44 min
May 31, 5:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Franklin, Hampshire	60 min
May 31, 5:39 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BOX	Hampshire	46 min
May 31, 5:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Worcester	47 min
May 31, 6:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Middlesex	47 min
May 31, 6:23 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Franklin	32 min
May 31, 6:34 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Essex	61 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Massachusetts, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.