Alert archive / New York / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Albany, NY

July 21, 2003Columbia County, Rensselaer County, New York

NWS Albany, NY issued this tornado warning at Jul 21, 2003, 8:43 PM EDT for Columbia County, Rensselaer County, New York. It was in force for 47 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 21, 2003, 8:43 PM EDT (00:43 UTC)
Expired: Jul 21, 2003, 9:30 PM EDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Albany, NY
Area: Whole counties

Counties Columbia County, NY, Rensselaer County, NY

The radar

The Albany radar (KENX), 42 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:45 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.

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 21, 3:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Albany, NY (KALY), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 32 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: 1765 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -13 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 601 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 56 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 347 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 418 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 4.6
Supercell composite: 21.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

268 
WFUS51 KALY 220043
TORALY
NYC021-083-220130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
843 PM EDT MON JUL 21 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ALBANY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHEASTERN COLUMBIA COUNTY IN EASTERN NEW YORK
  SOUTHERN RENSSELAER COUNTY IN EASTERN NEW YORK

* UNTIL 930 PM EDT

* AT 840 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A
  TORNADO AT ANY TIME NEAR VALATIE...OR ABOUT 6 MILES NORTHWEST OF
  CHATHAM...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  NASSAU AND BRAINARD AT 850 PM EDT
  AVERILL PARK AT 855 PM EDT
  STEPHENTOWN AT 900 PM EDT
  CHERRYPLAIN AT 905 PM EDT
  BERLIN AT 910 PM EDT
  PETERSBURG AT 915 PM EDT

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO...TAKE COVER IMMMEDIATELY.
SEEK SHELTER IN A BASEMENT OR INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF
THE BUIDLING. EVACUATE MOBILE HOMES AND GET INSIDE A SUBSTANTIAL
SHELTER.

$$
WASULA/MAGLARAS

LAT...LON 4258 7331 4230 7364 4245 7380 4291 7327
          4281 7328 4273 7325

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 21, 8:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ALY	Columbia, Dutchess	60 min
Jul 21, 8:06 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ALY	Greene	39 min
Jul 21, 8:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ALY	Ulster	30 min
Jul 21, 8:20 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ALY	Columbia	25 min
Jul 21, 8:22 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ALY	Rensselaer	53 min
Jul 21, 8:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ALY	Washington	60 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in New York, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes 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.