Alert archive / Massachusetts / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2004

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 45, NWS Boston/Norton, MA

August 20, 2004Middlesex County, Worcester County, Massachusetts

NWS Boston/Norton, MA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 20, 2004, 6:03 PM EDT for Middlesex County, Worcester County, Massachusetts. It was in force for 42 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 20, 2004, 6:03 PM EDT (22:03 UTC)
Expired: Aug 20, 2004, 6:45 PM EDT
In force: 42 min
Issued by: NWS Boston/Norton, MA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Middlesex County, MA, Worcester County, MA

The radar

The Boston radar (KBOX), 45 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:05 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 20, 1:05 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Chatham, MA (KCHH), launched 12:00Z, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 132 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: 1264 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -82 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 795 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 115 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 130 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS51 KBOX 202203
SVRBOX
MAC017-027-202245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
603 PM EDT FRI AUG 20 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  EAST CENTRAL WORCESTER COUNTY IN CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS
  SOUTHERN MIDDLESEX COUNTY IN EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
  THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF...WALTHAM...NEWTON...FRAMINGHAM

* UNTIL 645 PM EDT

* AT 601 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM.  THIS STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR BERLIN...OR ABOUT
  10 MILES NORTHEAST OF WORCESTER...AND MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  HUDSON AND BOLTON BY 610 PM EDT
  MARLBOROUGH AND SOUTHBOROUGH BY 615 PM EDT
  STOW BY 620 PM EDT
  MAYNARD BY 625 PM EDT
  FRAMINGHAM BY 630 PM EDT
  WAYLAND AND SUDBURY BY 635 PM EDT

IN ADDITION TO LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS...CONTINUOUS CLOUD TO
GROUND LIGHTNING IS OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM. MOVE INDOORS
IMMEDIATELY LIGHTNING IS ONE OF NATURES NUMBER ONE KILLERS.
REMEMBER...IF YOU CAN HEAR THUNDER...YOU ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE
STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.

LAT...LON 4234 7118 4233 7116 4231 7118 4229 7118
      4233 7125 4230 7133 4226 7131 4226 7174
      4244 7174 4250 7114 4237 7112

$$

BELK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 20, 1:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Worcester	31 min
Aug 20, 2:07 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	BOX	Worcester	23 min
Aug 20, 2:28 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Middlesex, Worcester	32 min
Aug 20, 2:58 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Middlesex, Worcester	47 min
Aug 20, 3:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Essex, Middlesex	50 min
Aug 20, 3:51 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	BOX		84 min
Aug 20, 4:29 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Essex, Middlesex	46 min
Aug 20, 4:33 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Franklin, Hampshire	27 min
Aug 20, 5:27 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	BOX		48 min
Aug 20, 6:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOX	Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk	49 min
Aug 20, 6:46 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	BOX		89 min
Aug 20, 6:46 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	BOX		89 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Massachusetts, 2004 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2004

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.