Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2000

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 53, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

July 18, 2000Middlesex County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 18, 2000, 1:43 PM EDT for Middlesex County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 47 min. 2 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: Jul 18, 2000, 1:43 PM EDT (17:43 UTC)
Expired: Jul 18, 2000, 2:30 PM EDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Whole counties

County Middlesex County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 63 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:45 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
Jul 18, 1:45 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Townsend, MA
Jul 18, 2:29 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Westford, MA

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
Jul 18, 11:30 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Chatham, MA (KCHH), launched 12:00Z, 5.7 hours before the alert went out and 148 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: 118 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -63 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 566 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 31 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 54 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.

000 
WUUS51 KBOX 181744
SVRBOS
MAC017-181830-
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
143 PM EDT TUE JUL 18 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NORTHWESTERN MIDDLESEX COUNTY IN EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS

* UNTIL 230 PM EDT.

* AT 140 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 8 MILES WEST OF PEPPERELL...OR ABOUT 8 MILES
  NORTHEAST OF FITCHBURG...MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH.

* OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING AREA INCLUDE TYNGSBORO AND 
  DUNSTABLE AND LOWELL.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND/OR WIND STRONG ENOUGH TO
KNOCK DOWN TREXES AND POWER LINES. MOVE INDOORS AND STAY AWAY FROM
WINDOWS.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 18, 12:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Worcester	36 min
Jul 18, 2:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Essex, Middlesex	46 min
Jul 18, 3:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Middlesex	32 min
Jul 18, 3:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Essex	17 min
Jul 18, 3:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Suffolk	23 min
Jul 18, 3:31 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Norfolk	44 min
Jul 18, 3:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Suffolk	31 min
Jul 18, 4:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Plymouth	30 min
Jul 18, 4:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Norfolk	32 min
Jul 18, 4:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Plymouth	21 min
Jul 18, 4:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Worcester	27 min
Jul 18, 5:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Plymouth	19 min
Jul 18, 5:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Norfolk	28 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Massachusetts, 2000 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2000

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.