Alert archive / Massachusetts / Flash Flood Warnings in 2003

Flash Flood Warning 5, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

August 7, 2003Franklin County, Hampshire County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this flash flood warning at Aug 7, 2003, 7:12 PM EDT for Franklin County, Hampshire 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: Aug 7, 2003, 7:12 PM EDT (23:12 UTC)
Expired: Aug 7, 2003, 10:15 PM EDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Franklin County, MA, Hampshire County, MA

The radar

The Albany radar (KENX), 119 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:15 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, 11.2 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: 55 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -21 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 559 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 9 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 32 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 072314
FFWBOX
MAC011-015-080215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
712 PM EDT THU AUG 7 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN FRANKLIN COUNTY IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
  CENTRAL HAMPSHIRE COUNTY IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
    INCLUDING NORTHAMPTON...AMHERST

* UNTIL 1015 PM EDT.

* AT 708 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED   
THUNDERSTORMS WITH TORRENTIAL RAINFALL OVER HADLEY...EXTENDING 
THROUGH AMHERST AND NORTHEAST OF LEVERETT. THE TORRENTIAL RAINFALL 
WAS NEARLY STATIONARY.

THE HEAVY RAINFALL AND SLOW MOVEMENT OF THESE STORMS MAY RESULT IN
FLOODING OF ROAD INTERSECTIONS AND LOW LYING AREAS...INCLUDING 
UNDERPASSES. KNOW ALTERNATE ROUTES FOR TRAVEL IN CASE ROADS BECOME 
IMPASSABLE.

$$

LAT...LON 4233 7269 4228 7253 4251 7227 4266 7228
          4272 7242

1 follow-up statement

000 
WGUS71 KBOX 080139
FFSBOX
MAC011-015-080230-

FLASH FLOOD STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
933 PM EDT THU AUG 7 2003

...THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR EASTERN FRANKLIN COUNTY AND CENTRAL 
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS HAS BEEN CANCELLED...

TRAINING THUNDERSTORMS WHICH PRODUCED TORRENTIAL RAINFALL EARLY THIS 
EVENING HAVE EXITED THE AREA.  ROADWAYS...INTERSECTIONS AND SMALL 
STREAMS MAY STILL CONTAIN HIGH WATER DUE TO THE RECENT RAINFALL... 
PARTICULARLY IN THE TOWN OF LEVERETT. HOWEVER...GRADUAL IMPROVEMENT 
OF FLOODED AREAS IS EXPECTED OVERNIGHT.  AS A RESULT THE FLASH FLOOD 
WARNING HAS BEEN CANCELLED. 

WHILE OCCASIONAL RAIN IS EXPECTED ACROSS MUCH OF THE REGION 
OVERNIGHT...ADDITIONAL RAINFALL IS NOT EXPECTED TO PRODUCE FLOODING 
SUCH AS THAT EXPERIENCED EARLIER THIS EVENING.  IN AREAS PREVIOUSLY 
AFFECTED BY TORRENTIAL RAINFALL...AN ADDITIONAL QUARTER TO ONE HALF 
INCH OF RAIN WILL BE POSSIBLE.  WHILE THIS IS NOT EXPECTED TO 
PRODUCE ADDITIONAL FLOODING...THIS MAY SLOW THE RECESSION OF 
FLOODWATERS WHICH EXIST. 

NEVER ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES OR ROADS WHERE WATER COVERS THE 
ROADWAY. THE ROADWAY COULD BE DAMAGED OR WASHED OUT.

$$

NOCERA

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 7, 4:41 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Middlesex	2 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.