Alert archive / New York / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 33, NWS Buffalo, NY

May 31, 1998Cattaraugus County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1998, 3:04 PM EDT for Cattaraugus County, New York. It was in force for 61 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, 3:04 PM EDT (19:04 UTC)
Expired
May 31, 1998, 4:05 PM EDT
In force
61 min
Issued by
NWS Buffalo, NY
Area
Whole counties

County Cattaraugus County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:05 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
May 31, 3:55 PM EDTThunderstorm WindSouth Dayton, 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 nearest sounding before it

Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 236 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, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1998-05-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1035 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Pittsburgh, PA at 12:00Z on 1998-05-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 198 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
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.

463 
WUUS1 KBUF 311905 RRA
SVRBUF
NYC009-312005-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO NY HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 405 PM EDT

* AT 300 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES EAST OF SINCLAIRVILLE...MOVING
  EAST NORTHEAST AT 60 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  ELLICOTTVILLE BETWEEN 315 AND 400PM

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.

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

NIZIOL

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 31, 4:08 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFNiagara62 min
May 31, 10:13 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFErie, Niagara62 min
May 31, 10:45 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFGenesee, Orleans45 min
May 31, 10:50 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFWyoming70 min
May 31, 10:50 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFMonroe70 min
May 31, 11:10 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFLivingston80 min
May 31, 11:15 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFErie60 min
May 31, 11:26 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFChautauqua79 min
May 31, 11:30 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFOntario, Wayne80 min
May 31, 11:45 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFJefferson80 min
May 31, 11:50 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFCayuga, Oswego85 min
May 31, 12:06 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFCattaraugus99 min
May 31, 12:15 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFErie45 min
May 31, 12:35 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFLewis65 min
May 31, 1:00 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFAllegany45 min
May 31, 1:27 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFLivingston63 min
May 31, 2:25 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFWyoming45 min
May 31, 2:45 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFLivingston45 min
May 31, 3:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFWayne65 min
May 31, 4:02 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFOswego33 min
May 31, 4:05 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFAllegany65 min
May 31, 4:11 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFChautauqua, Erie79 min
May 31, 4:11 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFNiagara79 min
May 31, 4:49 PM EDTTornado WarningBUFAllegany46 min
May 31, 5:08 PM EDTTornado WarningBUFChautauqua47 min
May 31, 5:17 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFGenesee, Livingston, Wyoming63 min
May 31, 5:24 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFErie61 min
May 31, 5:53 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFCattaraugus, Chautauqua62 min
May 31, 6:02 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFAllegany63 min
May 31, 6:17 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFMonroe, Orleans63 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in New York, 1998Every 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.