Alert archive / New York / Tornado Watches in 1998

Tornado Watch 475

May 31, 199827 counties in New York; Grand Isle County, Vermont

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 31, 1998, 9:00 AM EDT for 27 counties in New York; Grand Isle County, Vermont. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 31, 1998, 9:00 AM EDT (13:00 UTC)
Expired
May 31, 1998, 3:00 PM EDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 28 counties

Cattaraugus County, NY, Cayuga County, NY, Chautauqua County, NY, Clinton County, NY, Erie County, NY, Essex County, NY, Franklin County, NY, Genesee County, NY, Hamilton County, NY, Herkimer County, NY, Jefferson County, NY, Lewis County, NY, Livingston County, NY, Madison County, NY, Monroe County, NY, Niagara County, NY, Oneida County, NY, Onondaga County, NY, Ontario County, NY, Orleans County, NY, Oswego County, NY, Seneca County, NY, St. Lawrence County, NY, Warren County, NY, Wayne County, NY, Wyoming County, NY, Yates County, NY, Grand Isle County, VT

The radar

The Buffalo radar (KBUF), 132 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:00 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.

Warnings issued inside it

25 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
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, 11:42 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBTVSt. Lawrence63 min
May 31, 11:45 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFJefferson80 min
May 31, 11:48 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBGMSeneca, Yates72 min
May 31, 11:48 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBGMCayuga, Onondaga72 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, 12:29 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBGMOneida76 min
May 31, 12:35 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFLewis65 min
May 31, 12:51 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBTVFranklin, St. Lawrence59 min
May 31, 1:03 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningALYHamilton, Herkimer72 min
May 31, 1:27 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFLivingston63 min
May 31, 2:09 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBGMSeneca, Yates61 min
May 31, 2:25 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBGMCayuga, Cortland, Onondaga65 min
May 31, 2:25 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFWyoming45 min
May 31, 2:42 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBGMChenango, Madison63 min
May 31, 2:45 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBUFLivingston45 min

The nearest sounding before it

Albany, NY (KALY), launched 12:00Z, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 294 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, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 1998-05-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Albany, NY at 12:00Z on 1998-05-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 188 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1673 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
188 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
264 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 31, 3:00 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCAlbany, Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Columbia, Cortland and 19 more5 hr
May 31, 3:30 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCAllegany, Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie and 10 more7 hr
May 31, 5:00 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCBronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam and 4 more5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in New York, 1998Tornado Watches in Vermont, 1998Every tornado watch 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.