Alert archive / Massachusetts / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 29, NWS Albany, NY

August 13, 2003Berkshire County, Massachusetts

NWS Albany, NY issued this flash flood warning at Aug 13, 2003, 12:20 AM EDT for Berkshire County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 4 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 13, 2003, 12:20 AM EDT (04:20 UTC)
Expired: Aug 13, 2003, 4:15 AM EDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: NWS Albany, NY
Area: Whole counties

County Berkshire County, MA

The radar

The Albany radar (KENX), 74 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:20 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Albany, NY (KALY), launched 00:00Z, 4.3 hours before the alert went out and 62 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: 2388 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 820 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 13 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 16 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS51 KALY 130422
FFWALY
MAC003-130820-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
1220 AM EDT WED AUG 13 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ALBANY HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN BERKSHIRE COUNTY IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS

* UNTIL 415 AM EDT

* AT 1214 AM EDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED VERY HEAVY
  RAIN IN NORTHERN BERKSHIRE COUNTY.

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE...CHESHIRE...DALTON...HANCOCK...
  PITTSFIELD AND SAVOY

* RIVERS AND STREAMS MOST LIKELY TO BE AFFECTED ARE THE ANTHONY
  BROOK...WINDSOR BROOK...HOOSIC RIVER...WESTFIELD BROOK...BARTLETT
  BROOK AND WESTON BROOK.

BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS. IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED ACT
QUICKLY. MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY
IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS
SAFELY. VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE ABANDONED QUICKLY.
MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

$$

LAT...LON 4257 7332 4245 7336 4245 7300 4259 7297

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KALY 130703
FFSALY
MAC003-130730-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
300 AM EDT WED AUG 13 2003

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR BERKSHIRE COUNTY MASSACHUSETTS HAS 
BEEN CANCELLED...
 
HEAVY RAIN HAS ENDED THROUGHOUT BERKSHIRE COUNTY...AND NO ADDITIONAL 
RAIN IS EXPECTED OVERNIGHT...SO THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING HAS BEEN 
CANCELLED.

HEAVY RAIN EARLIER CAUSED FLOODING IN DALTON AND WINDSOR.  RESIDENTS 
OF A TRAILER PARK HAD TO BE EVACUATED WHEN WATER FROM WESTON BROOK
OVERFLOWED ITS BANKS.

REMEMBER...NEVER DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE ACROSS ANY ROAD THAT IS FLOODED.

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Massachusetts, 2003 Every flash flood warning in 2003

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.