Alert archive / New York / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Albany, NY

August 13, 1999Albany County, Rensselaer County, New York

NWS Albany, NY issued this tornado warning at Aug 13, 1999, 8:35 PM EDT for Albany County, Rensselaer County, New York. It was in force for 40 min. 6 reports 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: Aug 13, 1999, 8:35 PM EDT (00:35 UTC)
Expired: Aug 13, 1999, 9:15 PM EDT
In force: 40 min
Issued by: NWS Albany, NY
Area: Whole counties

Counties Albany County, NY, Rensselaer County, NY

The radar

The Albany radar (KENX), 27 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:34 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
Aug 13, 8:40 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Colonie, NY
Aug 13, 8:45 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Guilderland Center, NY
Aug 13, 8:52 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 59	Colonie, NY
Aug 13, 9:00 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Pleasantdale, NY
Aug 13, 9:00 PM EDT	Hail 1	Speigletown, NY
Aug 13, 9:15 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Brunswick, 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

Albany, NY (KALY), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 8 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: 1901 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 741 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 258 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 341 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 3.0
Supercell composite: 15.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KALB 140035 RRA
TORALB
NYC001-083-140115-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
835 PM EDT FRI AUG 13 1999
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ALBANY NY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  ALBANY COUNTY IN EASTERN NEW YORK
  RENESSELAER COUNTY IN EASTERN NEW YORK 

* UNTIL 915 PM EDT

* AT 835 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A POSSIBLE TORNADO JUST NORTH OF GUILDERLAND CENTER MOVING
  EAST ABOUT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

* THE POSSIBLE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  COLONIE AT 845 PM               
  JUST NORTH OF MENANDS AT 855 PM                     
  POESTENKILL AT 915 PM

IF YOU LIVE IN THIS AREA BE READY TO SEEK SHELTER IN A BASEMENT
OR SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST LEVEL...IMMEDIATELY.

$$
CERNIGLIA

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Albany, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Aug 13, 2:25 PM EDT, 6 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 13, 2:25 PM EDT, 6 hours 10 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
225 PM EDT FRI 13 1999

.DISC...
FINALLY...THE LONG AWAITED RAIN IS MOVING INTO OUR AREA.

BUT ALONG WITH IT IS COMING STEAMY HEAT...DEWPTS OVER 70 ARE
QUITE WIDESPREAD UPWIND WITH SOME SITES ALONG THE COAST
APPROACHING 80.  MSAS PLOTS SHOW LI VALUES OF MINUS 5 AND
THETAE VALUES APPROACHING 345 IN SOUTHEASTERN NEW YORK.

MILKY SUN DID BREAK THROUGH THE CLOUD COVER AND FOR A WHILE
WE EVEN SAW BITS OF BLUE SKY. WIDESPREAD SHOWERS OVER WESTERN
ADIRONDACKS AND MOHAWK VALLEY CONFIRMED BY SFC OBS AT KUCA AND
KSYR.

.SHORT TERM...
WILL CONTINUE SHOWERS/TSTORMS LIKELY ALL ZONES PER MOS AND
PREV PKG.  VERY MUGGY WITH DEWPOINTS REMAINING AROUND 70.

.MID TERM...
FRONT SLOWS DOWN AND CREEPS THRU AREA SAT NITE INTO SUNDAY.
LOOKS LIKE MORE TOWARD RAIN RATHER THAN SHWRS SAT NITE AS
FRONT APPROACHES AREA...THEN OCCAISIONAL RAIN SUNDAY AS
WE GET IN THE BACKLASH BEHIND THE LOW. WILL STAY CLOSE TO
MOS BUT WILL HOLD MAX TEMPS IN MID 70S. MOS INDICATES OVC
THROUGHT AND AGREE WITH IT.

.LONG TERM...
NCEP AND MRF BUILD HIGH INTO FCST AREA AS TROF AND ITS
ASSOCIATED FNTS AND PRECIP MOVE OUT TO SEA. JUST IN TIME
TO GO BACK TO WORK.

SORRY BOUT THOSE PICNICS AND COOKOUTS...BUT WE REALLY DO
NEED THE RAIN

ALY...NONE.

KILPATRICK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 13, 9:15 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ALY	Rensselaer	45 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in New York, 1999 Every tornado warning in 1999 Tornadoes in 1999

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.