Alert archive / New York / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 22, NWS Buffalo, NY

May 31, 1998Chautauqua County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1998, 11:26 AM EDT for Chautauqua County, New York. It was in force for 79 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: May 31, 1998, 11:26 AM EDT (15:26 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1998, 12:45 PM EDT
In force: 79 min
Issued by: NWS Buffalo, NY
Area: Whole counties

County Chautauqua County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 90 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:27 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
May 31, 12:00 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Ripley, NY

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, 9:00 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 3.4 hours before the alert went out and 218 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: 1035 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -145 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1038 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 198 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 281 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 4.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBUF 311526 RRA
SVRBUF
NYC013-311645-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
1126 AM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO NY HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 1245 PM EDT

* AT 1130 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER EASTERN LAKE ERIE...MOVING EAST
  NORTHEAST AT 65 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL CROSS THE COUNTY THROUGH 1245 PM EDT

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

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT.  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN
PRODUCE TORNADOES.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH AND/OR HAIL 3/4 INCH OR LARGER. FOR YOUR PROTECTION FROM
POTENTIALLY DAMAGING WINDS...MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR xBUSINESS.

LEVAN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 4:08 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Niagara	62 min
May 31, 10:13 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Erie, Niagara	62 min
May 31, 10:45 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Genesee, Orleans	45 min
May 31, 10:50 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Wyoming	70 min
May 31, 10:50 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Monroe	70 min
May 31, 11:10 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Livingston	80 min
May 31, 11:15 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Erie	60 min
May 31, 11:30 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Ontario, Wayne	80 min
May 31, 11:45 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Jefferson	80 min
May 31, 11:50 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Cayuga, Oswego	85 min
May 31, 12:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Cattaraugus	99 min
May 31, 12:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Erie	45 min
May 31, 12:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Lewis	65 min
May 31, 1:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Allegany	45 min
May 31, 1:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Livingston	63 min
May 31, 2:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Wyoming	45 min
May 31, 2:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Livingston	45 min
May 31, 3:04 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Cattaraugus	61 min
May 31, 3:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Wayne	65 min
May 31, 4:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Oswego	33 min
May 31, 4:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Allegany	65 min
May 31, 4:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Chautauqua, Erie	79 min
May 31, 4:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Niagara	79 min
May 31, 4:49 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BUF	Allegany	46 min
May 31, 5:08 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BUF	Chautauqua	47 min
May 31, 5:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Genesee, Livingston, Wyoming	63 min
May 31, 5:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Erie	61 min
May 31, 5:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Cattaraugus, Chautauqua	62 min
May 31, 6:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Allegany	63 min
May 31, 6:17 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Monroe, Orleans	63 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.