Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 24, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

August 22, 2003Franklin County, Hampshire County, Worcester County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 22, 2003, 4:08 PM EDT for Franklin County, Hampshire County, Worcester County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 52 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Aug 22, 2003, 4:08 PM EDT (20:08 UTC)
Expired: Aug 22, 2003, 5:00 PM EDT
In force: 52 min
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Franklin County, MA, Hampshire County, MA, Worcester County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:08 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
Aug 22, 1:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Albany, NY (KALY), launched 12:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 130 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: 1075 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -94 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 767 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 61 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 90 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS51 KBOX 222010
SVRBOX
MAC011-015-027-222100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
408 PM EDT FRI AUG 22 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN AND WEST CENTRAL WORCESTER COUNTY IN CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS
    INCLUDING FITCHBURG
  SOUTHEASTERN FRANKLIN COUNTY IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
  EAST CENTRAL HAMPSHIRE COUNTY IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
    INCLUDING AMHERST

* UNTIL 500 PM.

* AT 408 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LINE
  OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM HADLEY TO ATHOL...OR FROM 2 MILES EAST
  OF NORTHAMPTON TO 14 MILES SOUTHWEST OF JAFFREY...MOVING EAST AT 30
  MPH.

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE NEAR...
  SHUTESBURY AND NEW SALEM AROUND 415 PM
  PELHAM AROUND 420 PM
  PHILLIPSTON AROUND 425 PM
  GARDNER TO BELCHERTOWN AROUND 430 PM
  HUBBARDSTON...HARDWICK AND BARRE AROUND 445 PM.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND/OR WIND STRONG ENOUGH TO
KNOCK DOWN TREES AND POWER LINES. MOVE INDOORS AND STAY AWAY FROM
WINDOWS. 

BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL RATES OF AN INCH PER HOUR ARE EXPECTED WITH 
THESE THUNDERSTORMS. PONDING OF WATER IN LOW LYING AND POOR DRAINAGE 
AREAS ARE LIKELY. 

IN ADDITION TO LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND...VERY FREQUENT
CLOUD-TO-GROUND LIGHTNING IS ALSO LIKELY WITH THIS STORM. GET AWAY
FROM OPEN FIELDS...BODIES OF WATER...AND TALL OBJECTS.

$$

LAT...LON 4230 7266 4264 7224 4263 7175 4232 7212

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 22, 4:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Middlesex	46 min
Aug 22, 5:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Middlesex, Worcester	44 min
Aug 22, 5:50 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	BOX		115 min
Aug 22, 5:50 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	BOX		115 min
Aug 22, 5:51 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	BOX		22 hr
Aug 22, 5:51 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	BOX		22 hr
Aug 22, 5:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Worcester	65 min
Aug 22, 6:30 PM EDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOX	Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk	2 hr
Aug 22, 6:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Bristol, Norfolk, Plymouth	49 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Massachusetts, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm 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.