Alert archive / Massachusetts / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 19, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

September 28, 2003Hampden County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this flash flood warning at Sep 28, 2003, 10:20 AM EDT for Hampden County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 3 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: Sep 28, 2003, 10:20 AM EDT (14:20 UTC)
Expired: Sep 28, 2003, 1:00 PM EDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Whole counties

County Hampden County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 125 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:20 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 12:00Z, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 116 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: 237 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 524 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 214 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 219 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WGUS51 KBOX 281421
FFWBOX
MAC013-281715-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
1020 AM EDT SUN SEP 28 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  CENTRAL HAMPDEN COUNTY IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
    INCLUDING SPRINGFIELD...CHICOPEE

* UNTIL 115 PM EDT.

* AT 1015 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  SHOWERS WITH TORRENTIAL RAINFALL NEAR WEST SPRINGFIELD...EXTENDING
  SOUTH ACROSS MUCH OF CONNECTICUT.  THE SHOWERS WERE MOVING NORTH
  AT 35 MPH AND WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE ACROSS CENTRAL HAMPDEN COUNTY
  THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON.  RAINFALL TOTALS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES CAN BE
  EXPECTED.  THIS WILL PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT URBAN FLOODING...AS WELL
  AS FLOODING OF SMALLER RIVERS AND STREAMS.

A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR OCCURRING. 
IF YOU ARE IN THE WARNING AREA MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY.
DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH FLOODED AREAS...EVEN IF YOU THINK THE WATER IS 
SHALLOW.

$$

LAT...LON 4217 7284 4222 7280 4219 7275 4219 7268
          4227 7262 4222 7262 4222 7244 4203 7245
          4204 7286

DELLICARPINI

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KBOX 281536
FFSBOX
CTC003-MAC013-281730-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
1135 AM EDT SUN SEP 28 2003

...TORRENTIAL RAINFALL CONTINUES IN HARTFORD AND CENTRAL HAMPDEN 
COUNTIES...

FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS REMAIN IN EFFECT FOR HARTFORD COUNTY UNTIL 1 
PM...AND FOR CENTRAL HAMPDEN COUNTY UNTIL 115 PM.  FLASH FLOODING 
HAS ALREADY OCCURRED IN HARTFORD COUNTY AND IS IMMINENT IN CENTRAL 
HAMPDEN COUNTY.

AS OF 1130 AM...SIGNIFICANT URBAN FLOODING HAS BEEN REPORTED IN 
BERLIN AND WEST HARTFORD WHERE SEVERAL CARS WERE STRANDED.  IN NEW 
BRITAIN...WILLOW BROOK WAS OUT OF ITS BANKS AND WAS FLOODING WILLOW 
BROOK PARK.

HEAVY RAIN WILL CONTINUE IN HARTFORD AND HAMPDEN COUNTIES UNTIL 1 
PM...THEN SHOULD LESSEN IN INTENSITY AS THE HEAVIER RAIN SHIFTS 
EAST.  RAINFALL TOTALS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES ARE EXPECTED THROUGHOUT MOST 
OF HARTFORD AND CENTRAL HAMPDEN COUNTIES...ESPECIALLY FROM BERLIN TO 
HARTFORD...SOUTHWICK AND SPRINGFIELD.

THIS WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT URBAN FLOODING...AND WILL 
LIKELY CAUSE SMALLER RIVERS AND STREAMS TO RISE OUT OF THEIR BANKS.

MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. NEVER ATTEMPT TO CROSS
BRIDGES OR ROADS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. IT ONLY TAKES A FOOT
OR TWO OF WATER TO WASH MOST CARS AWAY.

$$

DELLICARPINI

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 28, 12:35 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Hampden, Hampshire	6 hr
Sep 28, 2:10 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Franklin	4 hr
Sep 28, 6:32 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire	58 min

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.