Alert archive / New York / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 1, NWS Buffalo, NY
NWS Buffalo, NY issued this tornado warning at May 31, 1998, 4:49 PM EDT for Allegany County, New York. It was in force for 46 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, 4:49 PM EDT (20:49 UTC)
- Expired
- May 31, 1998, 5:35 PM EDT
- In force
- 46 min
- Issued by
- NWS Buffalo, NY
- Area
- Whole counties
County Allegany County, NY
The radar
The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:52 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, 4:51 PM EDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Angelica, 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, 3:30 PM EDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 7 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Pittsburgh, PA (KPIT), launched 12:00Z, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 269 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
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
129 WFUS1 KBUF 312050 RRA TORBUF NYC003-312135- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY 449 PM EDT SUN MAY 31 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO NY HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... ALLEGANY COUNTY IN WESTERN NEW YORK * UNTIL 535 PM EDT * AT 445 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO OVER ANGELICA...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR... ALFRED BETWEEN 450 AND 500 PM IF YOU ARE IN THESE AREAS...SEEK SAFETY IN A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM AWAY FROM WINDOWS. A BASEMENT OFFERS THE BEST PROTECTION. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. ACT QUICKLY. TAKE COVER BELOW GROUND IF AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM...SUCH AS A BATHROOM OR CLOSET...ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.
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, 11:26 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BUF | Chautauqua | 79 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, 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
Tornado Warnings in New York, 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.