Alert archive / Wyoming / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Cheyenne, WY

July 18, 1988Laramie County, Wyoming

NWS Cheyenne, WY issued this tornado warning at Jul 18, 1988, 5:33 PM MDT for Laramie County, Wyoming. It was in force for 57 min. 3 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
Jul 18, 1988, 5:33 PM MDT (23:33 UTC)
Expired
Jul 18, 1988, 6:30 PM MDT
In force
57 min
Issued by
NWS Cheyenne, WY
Area
Whole counties

County Laramie County, WY

The radar

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

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jul 18, 6:00 PM MDTTornado F0Laramie, WY
Jul 18, 6:30 PM MDTHail 1.75Laramie, WY
Jul 18, 6:30 PM MDTThunderstorm Wind 78Laramie, WY

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Denver, CO (KDEN), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 202 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 1988-07-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1988-07-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -26 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
NaN m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-9 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 KCYS 190005
TORCPR
BULLETIN-EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING.......................RETRANSMISSION...............
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE, WY
604 PM MDT MON JUL 18 1988
WYC021-190030-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE

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, 2 hours 29 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 18, 3:22 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSPlatte53 min
Jul 18, 4:23 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSPlatte67 min
Jul 18, 4:23 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSGoshen47 min
Jul 18, 4:44 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSLaramie61 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Wyoming, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.