Alert archive / Massachusetts / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 7, NWS Boston/Norton, MA
NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this tornado warning at Jul 23, 1998, 1:45 PM EDT for Worcester County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 50 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
- Jul 23, 1998, 1:45 PM EDT (17:45 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 23, 1998, 2:35 PM EDT
- In force
- 50 min
- Issued by
- NWS Boston/Norton, MA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Worcester County, MA
The radar
The Boston radar (KBOX), 77 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:44 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 23, 1:55 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Millbury, MA | |
| Jul 23, 2:10 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Uxbridge, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 23, 12:45 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Chatham, MA (KCHH), launched 12:00Z, 5.8 hours before the alert went out and 177 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1192 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 31 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 25 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 56 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
995 WFUS1 KBOS 231743 RRA TORBOS MAC027-231835- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA 145 PM EDT THU JUL 23 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... EASTERN WORCESTER COUNTY IN CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS * UNTIL 235 PM EDT * AT 142 PM EDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO NEAR SPENCER...MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH. * TOWNS IN OR NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE... LEICESTER AT 145 PM WORCESTER AT 155 PM SHREWSBURY AT 200 PM GRAFTON AT 200 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. GAF/WD
The office that day
Everything else NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 23, 1:09 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOX | Middlesex | 46 min |
| Jul 23, 1:28 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOX | Hampden, Worcester | 32 min |
| Jul 23, 2:01 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOX | Middlesex | 44 min |
| Jul 23, 2:06 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOX | Essex | 49 min |
| Jul 23, 2:18 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOX | Norfolk | 57 min |
| Jul 23, 2:27 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOX | Suffolk | 48 min |
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.