Alert archive / Montana / Tornado Warnings in 1988
Tornado Warning 2, NWS Great Falls, MT
NWS Great Falls, MT issued this tornado warning at Jul 11, 1988, 4:12 PM MDT for Cascade County, Montana. It was in force for 33 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Jul 11, 1988, 4:12 PM MDT (22:12 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 11, 1988, 4:45 PM MDT
- In force
- 33 min
- Issued by
- NWS Great Falls, MT
- Area
- Whole counties
County Cascade County, MT
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
Great Falls, MT (KGTF), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 19 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2166 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 19 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 26 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 38 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
TTAA00 KGTF 112213
TORGTF
MTC013-112245-
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
412 PM MDT MON JUL 11 1988
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 445 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
IN NORTHWEST MONTANA
...NORTHEASTERN CASCADE
SHORTLY AFTER 4 PM WEATHER OBSERVERS AT MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE
REPORTED A TORNADO ABOUT 10 MILES SOUTH OF MALMSTROM. THE STORM WAS
MOVING NORTHEAST ABOUT 30 MILES AN HOUR.
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY. AVOID WINDOWS.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 11, 3:39 PM MDT, 33 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 335 PM MDT MON JUL 11 1988 ...THUNDERSTORMS WERE DEVELOPING RAPIDLY OVER WESTERN MONTANA THIS AFTERNOON... AT 330 PM WEATHER RADAR SHOWED SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS WESTERN MONTANA FROM NEAR CUT BANK TO EAST OF HELENA INTO THE BOZEMAN AREA. THE STRONGEST STORMS WERE IN SOUTHWEST CASCADE AND NORTHWEST MEAGHER COUNTIES AND LIKELY CONTAINED SMALL HAIL AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. THE STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST ABOUT 30 MILES AN HOUR. AROUND 140 PM A THUNDERSTORM WITH SMALL HAIL MOVED THROUGH HELENA AND MOVED NORTHEAST INTO NORTHERN MEAGHER COUNTY. RESIDENTS OF CASCADE AND NORTHERN MEAGHER COUNTIES...INCLUDING THE CITY OF GREAT FALLS...SHOULD PREPARE FOR FREQUENT LIGHTNING...BRIEF HEAVY RAIN AND HAIL THIS AFTERNOON. LIGHTNING IS A MAJOR CAUSE OF THUNDERSTORM FATALITIES. DOHERTY
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Montana, 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.