Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1990

Tornado Warning 31, NWS Cheyenne, WY

July 20, 1990Box Butte County, Nebraska

NWS Cheyenne, WY issued this tornado warning at Jul 20, 1990, 4:03 PM MDT for Box Butte County, Nebraska. It was in force for 17 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 20, 1990, 4:03 PM MDT (22:03 UTC)
Expired: Jul 20, 1990, 4:20 PM MDT
In force: 17 min
Issued by: NWS Cheyenne, WY
Area: Whole counties

County Box Butte 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, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 206 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: 67 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -76 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 960 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -68 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 202203
TORBFF
NEC013-202230-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SCOTTSBLUFF NE
403 PM MDT FRI JUL 20 1990

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 430 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE PANHANDLE OF NEBRASKA
      EXTREME SOUTHEAST BOX BUTTE

AT 400 PM MDT...A FUNNEL CLOUD WAS SIGHTED BY WEATHER SERVICE
PERSONNEL AT THE WEATHER RADAR SITE IN ALLIANCE NEBRASKA.  THE
STORM WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 5 MILES AN HOUR.

TAKE SHELTER IN A BASEMENT IF AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE GO TO A SMALL
INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.  ABANDON
CARS AND MOBILE HOMES.

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 20, 10:54 AM MDT, 5 hours 9 minutes before

WYZ012-016-017-201900-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
1055 AM MDT FRI JUL 20 1990

...HEAVY RAIN OVER EXTREME SOUTHEAST WYOMING...

BETWEEN 10 AND 1030 AM...A THUNDERSTORM DUMPED ONE AND A QUARTER INCHES
OF RAIN ON THE TOWN OF CARPENTER WYOMING WHICH IS 24 MILES SOUTHEAST
OF CHEYENNE. LIGHTNING ALSO KNOCKED OUT POWER IN CARPENTER.  RAIN
WAS WIDESPREAD OVER SOUTHEAST WYOMING THIS MORNING WITH THE HEAVIEST
SHOWERS OVER THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE STATE.

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...SOME WITH HEAVY RAIN...CLOUDY SKIES AND
COOL WEATHER WILL CONTINUE TODAY AND TONIGHT IN SOUTHEAST WYOMING.
LOCAL STREET AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING WILL BE LIKELY WITH THE
HEAVIER SHOWERS.

SCOTT

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 20, 1:51 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	CYS	Sheridan	39 min
Jul 20, 2:36 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	CYS	Scotts Bluff	39 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 1990 Every tornado warning in 1990 Tornadoes in 1990

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.