Alert archive / New York / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Buffalo, NY

June 2, 1998Erie County, New York

NWS Buffalo, NY issued this tornado warning at Jun 2, 1998, 5:18 PM EDT for Erie County, New York. It was in force for 77 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: Jun 2, 1998, 5:18 PM EDT (21:18 UTC)
Expired: Jun 2, 1998, 6:35 PM EDT
In force: 77 min
Issued by: NWS Buffalo, NY
Area: Whole counties

County Erie County, NY

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 21 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:21 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
Jun 2, 5:45 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Buffalo, 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
Jun 2, 4:15 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Buffalo Intl Airport, NY (KBUF), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 20 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: 3 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -128 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1267 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 198 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 188 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

931 
WFUS1 KBUF 022120 RRA
TORBUF
NYC029-NYZ521-522-022235-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY
518 PM EDT TUE JUN 2 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO NY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  ERIE COUNTY INCLUDING ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS IN WESTERN NEW YORK

* UNTIL 635 PM EDT

* AT 515 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A TORNADO OVER THE NIAGARA PENINSULA 30 MILES WEST OF
  BUFFALO...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  BUFFALO METRO AREA BETWEEN 545 AND 615 PM

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

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IN A
HOME OR BUSINESS IS AN INTERIOR ROOM...SUCH AS YOUR BATHROOM...
ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT
OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED BUILDING.
AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT
AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

SFM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 2, 4:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Chautauqua	57 min
Jun 2, 5:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Chautauqua	63 min
Jun 2, 5:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Cattaraugus	64 min
Jun 2, 6:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Niagara	65 min
Jun 2, 6:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Genesee, Wyoming	63 min
Jun 2, 6:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Cattaraugus	65 min
Jun 2, 6:38 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Livingston	62 min
Jun 2, 6:43 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BUF	Wyoming	62 min
Jun 2, 6:48 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BUF	Livingston	62 min
Jun 2, 6:54 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BUF	Cattaraugus	66 min
Jun 2, 7:02 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BUF	Allegany	63 min
Jun 2, 7:10 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Ontario	65 min
Jun 2, 7:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BUF	Wayne	65 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in New York, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.