Alert archive / Massachusetts / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

June 30, 1998Barnstable County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this tornado warning at Jun 30, 1998, 10:37 PM EDT for Barnstable County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 33 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
Jun 30, 1998, 10:37 PM EDT (02:37 UTC)
Expired
Jun 30, 1998, 11:10 PM EDT
In force
33 min
Issued by
NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area
Whole counties

County Barnstable County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:37 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
Jun 30, 10:47 PM EDTHail 0.75Barnstable, 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

Chatham, MA (KCHH), launched 00:00Z, 2.6 hours before the alert went out and 25 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, Chatham, MA at 00:00Z on 1998-07-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 127 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, Chatham, MA at 00:00Z on 1998-07-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 99 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
127 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-151 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
657 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
99 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
78 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.

772 
WFUS1 KBOS 010238
TORBOS
MAC001-010310-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
1037 PM EDT TUE JUN 30 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN BARNSTABLE IN SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS

* UNTIL 1110 PM EDT

* AT 1035 PM EDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR
  INDICATED A TORNADO NEAR THE CAPE COD CANAL IN BOURNE...MOVING
  EAST AT 30   MPH.

* TOWNS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...
  BOURNE AT 1040 PM
  SANDWICH AT 1045 PM

THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING TORNADOES EARLIER THIS EVENING
IN CONNECTICUT.

DO NOT COUNT ON SEEING THE TORNADO.  MANY NEW ENGLAND TORNADOES
ARE OBSCURED BY RAIN.  TAKE COVER NOW IN THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL
INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.

JL/TF

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 30, 9:05 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningBOXBristol11 hr
Jun 30, 10:13 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXBristol, Plymouth62 min
Jun 30, 10:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOXBarnstable35 min
Jul 1, 10:04 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningBOXBristol10 hr

Nearby

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