Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Cheyenne, WY

July 18, 1988Scotts Bluff County, Sioux County, Nebraska

NWS Cheyenne, WY issued this tornado warning at Jul 18, 1988, 5:01 PM MDT for Scotts Bluff County, Sioux County, Nebraska. It was in force for 25 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 18, 1988, 5:01 PM MDT (23:01 UTC)
Expired: Jul 18, 1988, 5:26 PM MDT
In force: 25 min
Issued by: NWS Cheyenne, WY
Area: Whole counties

Counties Scotts Bluff County, NE, Sioux 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

Rapid City, SD (KRAP), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 222 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: 2057 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 14 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 182301
TORBFF
NEC165-157-182330-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SCOTTSBLUFF NE
501 PM MDT MON JUL 18 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 530 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTIES

   IN THE PANHANDLE OF NEBRASKA
      SOUTHEAST SIOUX...NORTHEAST SCOTTS BLUFF

AT 4 58 PM MDT A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY RADAR 15 MILES NORTH OF
SCOTTSBLUFF IN SOUTHEASTERN SIOUX COUNTY MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20
MILES AN HOUR.

THIS WARNING INCLUDES LAKE MINETARE RECREATION AREA.

THIS WARNING DOES NOT..REPEAT..DOES NOT INCLUDE THE CITIES OF
SCOTTSBLUFF OR GERING.

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...FIND SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED
BUILDING.  AS A LAST RESORT...TAKE SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR
LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

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.

PFEIFFER

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, Jul 18, 3:04 PM MDT, 1 hour 57 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SCOTTSBLUFF NE
304 PM MDT MON JUL 18 1988

...TORNADO WATCH FOR SOUTHERN AND WESTERN PANHANDLE UNTIL 9 PM MDT...

AT 3 PM MDT THUNDERSTORMS WERE SCATTERED ACROSS THE NORTHERN NEBRASKA
PANHANDLE.  THE STRONGEST STORM WAS 40 MILES WEST OF CHADRON NEBRASKA
...JUST SOUTHWEST OF HARRISON NEBRASKA.  MOVEMENT WAS SOUTHEAST AT
10 MPH.  OTHER...MORE INTENSE STORMS WERE IN WYOMING.

SMALL HAIL...BRIEF HEAY RAIN AND STRONG WINDS ARE POSSIBLE WITH THE
STORMS IN THE SOUTHERN TWO THIRDS OF SIOUX COUNTY UNTIL 415 PM MDT.

TORNADO WATCH 309 WILL BE IN EFFECT FOR SIOUX...SCOTTS BLUFF...BANNER
...KIMBALL AND CHEYENNE COUNTIES UNTIL 9 PM MDT TON}IGHT.
ELSON

The office that day

Everything else NWS Cheyenne, WY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 17, 9:32 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CYS	Dawes	38 min
Jul 18, 1:38 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CYS	Dawes	67 min
Jul 18, 4:05 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CYS	Sioux	55 min
Jul 18, 5:26 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CYS	Morrill, Scotts Bluff	64 min

Nearby

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