Alert archive / New York / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 117, NWS Buffalo, NY

July 20, 1998Genesee County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 20, 1998, 8:51 AM EDT for Genesee County, New York. It was in force for 34 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 20, 1998, 8:51 AM EDT (12:51 UTC)
Expired: Jul 20, 1998, 9:25 AM EDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Buffalo, NY
Area: Whole counties

County Genesee County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 45 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 12:55 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 42 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: 1937 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 589 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 9 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 69 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

584 
WUUS1 KBUF 201252 RRA
SVRBUF
NYC037-201325-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
851 AM EDT MON JUL 20 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO NY HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  GENESEE COUNTY IN WESTERN NEW YORK

* UNTIL 925 AM EDT

* AT 845 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES WEST OF BATAVIA...MOVING SOUTHEAST
  AT 25 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  BATAVIA 9 AM
  SOUTHWEST OF LEROY AT 915 AM

IF YOU ARE IN THESE AREAS...SEEK SAFETY IN A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM
AWAY FROM WINDOWS. A BASEMENT OFFERS THE BEST PROTECTION.

BE ON THE ALERT FOR THUNDERSTORMS ACCOMPANIED BY DAMAGING
WINDS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND HAIL. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL
MAY ALSO PRODUCE DRAINAGE FLOODING.

BLACKBURN

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 20, 8:04 AM EDT, 47 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NEW YORK
804 AM EDT MON JUL 20 1998

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

0915 PM    RIPLEY                    NY   .75 INCH HAIL
07/19/98   CHAUTAUQUA

The office that day

Everything else NWS Buffalo, NY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 19, 9:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Chautauqua	58 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in New York, 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.