Alert archive / Massachusetts / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 23, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

October 29, 2003Franklin County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this flash flood warning at Oct 29, 2003, 11:47 AM EST for Franklin 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: Oct 29, 2003, 11:47 AM EST (16:47 UTC)
Expired: Oct 29, 2003, 2:45 PM EST
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Whole counties

County Franklin County, MA

The radar

The Albany radar (KENX), 121 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:48 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, 4.8 hours before the alert went out and 102 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 504 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 72 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 148 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 424 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 
WGUS51 KBOX 291651
FFWBOX
MAC011-291945-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
1147 AM EST WED OCT 29 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN FRANKLIN COUNTY IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
    INCLUDING GREENFIELD

* UNTIL 245 PM EST.

* AT 1145 AM EST...THE NORTH RIVER AT SHATTUCKVILLE WAS AT 8.5 FEET 
AND RISING.  BANKFULL IS 9.0 FEET.  FLASH FLOODING IS EXPECTED ALONG 
THE NORTH RIVER INTO EARLY THIS AFTERNOON.     

ALTHOUGH THE RAIN HAS TEMPORARILY ENDED ACROSS WESTERN FRANKLIN 
COUNTY...WATER DRAINING INTO STREAMS AND RIVERS IS CAUSING RAPID 
RISES.  OTHER RIVERS AND STREAMS MAY ALSO FLOOD DURING THIS 
AFTERNOON DUE TO RUNOFF FROM THE HEAVY RAINS WHICH OCCURRED THIS 
MORNING. 

A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR OCCURRING. 
IF YOU ARE IN THE WARNING AREA MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IMMEDIATELY.

$$

LAT...LON 4274 7266 4267 7223 4256 7229 4250 7242
          4251 7280 4255 7297 4263 7294 4269 7299

BELK/BUTTRICK

2 follow-up statements

000 
WGUS71 KBOX 291851
FFSBOX
MAC011-291945-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
145 PM EST WED OCT 29 2003

...A FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR WESTERN FRANKLIN 
COUNTY IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS UNTIL 245 PM...

HEAVY RAINS EARLIER TODAY HAVE PRODUCED SHARP RISES ON STREAMS AND 
RIVERS IN WESTERN FRANKLIN COUNTY.  A SPOTTER HAS REPORTED FLOODING 
ON THE DEERFIELD AND GREEN RIVERS IN THE GREENFIELD AREA.  THE NORTH 
RIVER AT SHATTUCKVILLE IS NEAR BANKFULL...WHERE MINOR FLOODING IS 
EXPECTED. OTHER SMALL RIVERS AND STREAMS IN THIS AREA MAY ALSO SWELL 
EARLY THIS AFTERNOON.

OF NOTE...A FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE CONNECTICUT RIVER AT 
MONTAGUE IN FRANKLIN COUNTY MASSACHUSETTS.

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.

$$

BELK/BUTTRICK

000 
WGUS71 KBOX 291949
FFSBOX
MAC011-292045-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
250 PM EST WED OCT 29 2003

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR WESTERN FRANKLIN COUNTY IN WESTERN 
MASSACHUSETTS HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO EXPIRE...

SMALL RIVERS AND STREAMS ACROSS WESTERN FRANKLIN COUNTY IN WESTERN 
MASSACHUSETTS HAVE BEGUN TO RECEDE THIS AFTERNOON...THEREFORE THE 
FLASH FLOOD WARNING HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO EXPIRE.

MINOR FLOODING WILL REMAIN A POSSIBILITY INTO THE LATE AFTERNOON 
HOURS NEAR SOME SMALL RIVERS...INCLUDING THE GREEN...DEERFIELD...AND 
NORTH RIVERS.  DO NOT DRIVE IN AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

OF NOTE...A FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE CONNECTICUT RIVER 
AT MONTAGUE IN FRANKLIN COUNTY MASSACHUSETTS.

$$

BELK/BUTTRICK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Oct 29, 11:24 AM EST	Special Marine Warning	BOX	96 min
Oct 29, 11:29 AM EST	Special Marine Warning	BOX	21 hr
Oct 29, 1:28 PM EST	Special Marine Warning	BOX	92 min
Oct 29, 1:32 PM EST	Special Marine Warning	BOX	20 hr

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.