Alert archive / Montana / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Great Falls, MT

June 15, 1989Cascade County, Montana

NWS Great Falls, MT issued this tornado warning at Jun 15, 1989, 5:13 PM MDT for Cascade County, Montana. It was in force for 62 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jun 15, 1989, 5:13 PM MDT (23:13 UTC)
Expired
Jun 15, 1989, 6:15 PM MDT
In force
62 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, 11.2 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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Great Falls, MT at 12:00Z on 1989-06-15Temperature 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, Great Falls, MT at 12:00Z on 1989-06-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 96 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
1681 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
96 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
146 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 KGTF 152315
TORGTF
MTC013-160015-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
513 PM MDT THU JUN 15 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  615 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN NORTHWEST MONTANA
          ...SOUTHERN CASCADE...INCLUDING THE TOWN OF CASCADE AND
HARDY.
 
AT 5PM LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL REPORTED A LARGE FUNNEL CLOUD NEAR
THE GATES OF THE MOUNTAINS. THE THUNDERSTORM ASSOCIATED WITH THIS
FUNNEL WAS MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST NEAR 30 MPH.
 
 
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, Jun 15, 1:09 PM MDT, 4 hours 4 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS, MT
108 PM MDT THU JUN 15 1989

...WET WEATHER TONIGHT INTO FRIDAY WESTERN HALF OF THE STATE...

A MOIST PACIFIC WEATHER SYSTEM IS BEGINNNING TO MOVE INTO WESTERN
MONTANA THIS AFTERNOON. BRIEF HEAVY SHOWERS HAVE BEEN REPORTED
ALONG THE IDAHO MONTANA BORDER.

AS THE WEATHER SYSTEM MOVES FURTHER INTO MONTANA TONIGHT INTO
FRIDAY HEAVY SHOWERS ALONG WITH SOME STRONG THUNDERSTORMS COULD
DEVELOP IN THE WESTERN HALF OF THE STATE.  BECAUSE OF THE POSSIBLITY
OF HEAVY PRECIPITATION AND WITH THE GROUND SATURATED IN THE
GLACIER PARK AREAS...SOME SMALL STREAM FLOODING IS POSSIBLE ON
FRIDAY...MAINLY IN THE GLACIER PARK AREAS EAST OF THE CONTINENTAL
DIVIDE.

SHOWER ACTIVITY SHOULD DECREASE DURING FRIDAY OVER THE WESTERN
HALF OF THE STATE BUT STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP IN THE
EXTREME EASTERN PART OF MONTANA.

OLSEN

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Montana, 1989Every tornado warning in 1989Tornadoes in 1989

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.