Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Cheyenne, WY

August 11, 1988Banner County, Morrill County, Nebraska

NWS Cheyenne, WY issued this tornado warning at Aug 11, 1988, 2:55 PM MDT for Banner County, Morrill County, Nebraska. It was in force for 35 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 11, 1988, 2:55 PM MDT (20:55 UTC)
Expired
Aug 11, 1988, 3:30 PM MDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS Cheyenne, WY
Area
Whole counties

Counties Banner County, NE, Morrill County, NE

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Denver, CO (KDEN), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 196 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 1988-08-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 144 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 1988-08-11The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -5 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
144 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-226 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2666 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-5 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-1 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 
TTAA00 KBFF 112055
TORBFF
NEC123-007-112130-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SCOTTSBLUFF NE
255 PM MDT THU AUG 11 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 330 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTIES

   IN THE PANHANDLE OF NEBRASKA
      SOUTHWEST MORRILL...EASTERN BANNER

AT 253 PM MDT A TORNADO WAS REPORTED BY THE BANNER COUNTY SHERRIFF
12 MILES EAST OF HARRISBURG NEBRASKA.  MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT
20 MPH.

DO NOT TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO IN A CAR.  CARS ARE EASILY TOSSED
AROUND BY TORNADOES.  IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...
LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A REINFORCED BUILDING.  IF NO STRUCTURE IS
NEARBY...TAKE SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT AWAY FROM THE VEHICLE.

ELSON

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 11, 1:27 PM MDT, 1 hour 28 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SCOTTSBLUFF NE
127 PM MDT THU AUG 11 1988

...THUNDERSTORMS IN THE WESTERN NEBRASKA PANHANDLE...

AT 125 PM MDT RADAR SHOWED THAT THUNDERSTORMS HAD BEGUN TO FORM IN THE
WESTERN NEBRASKA PANHANDLE.  THE STRONGEST STORMS WERE IN KIMBALL COUNTY
OF THE SOUTHERN PANHANDLE WEST OF KIMBALL.  MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT
20 MPH.

BRIEF HEAVY RAIN...STRONG GUSTY WIND AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE
POSvSIBLE WITH THE STORMS IN KIMBALL AND BANNER COUNTIES UNTIL 3 PM MDT
THIS AFTERNOON.
ELSON

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 1988Every tornado warning in 1988Tornadoes in 1988

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.