Alert archive / Wyoming / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 35, NWS Cheyenne, WY

August 22, 1996Platte County, Wyoming

NWS Cheyenne, WY issued this tornado warning at Aug 22, 1996, 8:25 PM MDT for Platte County, Wyoming. It was in force for 35 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 22, 1996, 8:25 PM MDT (02:25 UTC)
Expired
Aug 22, 1996, 9:00 PM MDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS Cheyenne, WY
Area
Whole counties

County Platte County, WY

The radar

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:25 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Rapid City, SD (KUNR), launched 00:00Z, 2.4 hours before the alert went out and 274 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, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 1996-08-23Temperature 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, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 1996-08-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -26 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
2705 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
48 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 230225
TORCYS
WYC031-230300-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
825 PM MDT THU AUG 22 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHEYENNE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  900 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST WYOMING
 
   ...WEST CENTRAL PLATTE COUNTY
 
THIS WARNING REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR WEST CENTRAL
PLATTE COUNTY THAT WAS TO EXPIRE AT 830 PM MDT.
 
AT 724 PM MDT...DOPPLER RADAR IN CHEYENNE SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WITH THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE A TORNADO LOCATED 8 MILES WEST OF
WHEATLAND. THIS STORM WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AROUND 10 MPH.
 
IF YOU ARE WEST OR SOUTHWEST OF WHEATLAND...>YOU SHOULD TAKE COVER NOW!
 
DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED STRONG ROTATION IN THIS STORM.  IT HAS THE
POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY MOMENT!
 
SULLIVAN
WCJIN-WYSE

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, Aug 22, 2:48 PM MDT, 5 hours 37 minutes before
WYZ069-222115-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
252 PM MDT THU AUG 22 1996

...THIS IS A TEST OF THE ABT BACKUP...

PAL
Special weather statement, Aug 22, 4:23 PM MDT, 4 hours 2 minutes before
WYZ059-060-064>067-069-222255-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
422 PM MDT THU AUG 22 1996

...THUNDERSTORMS WERE DEVELOPING IN PARTS OF SOUTHEAST WYOMING...

CHEYENNE DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR SHOWED THAT WIDELY SCATTERED
THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED OVER SOUTHEAST WYOMING THIS AFTERNOON.
AT 420 PM MDT...THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORM WAS ABOUT 20 MILES SOUTHWEST
OF DOUGLAS.  THIS STORM WAS ON THE WEST OF EDGE OF SOME WEAKER
THUNDERSTORMS ALREADY IN THE DOUGLAS AREA.  ANOTHER THUNDERSTORM WAS
BEGINNING TO INTENSIFY 15 MILES NORTHWEST OF CHEYENNE.

ALL OF THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 10 MPH.  THUNDERSTORMS
WILL CONTINUE IN SOUTHEAST WYOMING INTO THE EVENING HOURS.  A FEW OF
THESE STORMS MAY PRODUCE HEAVY RAIN...GUSTY WINDS AND SMALL HAIL.

SHOULD A THUNDERSTORM APPROACH YOUR LOCATION...GET TO A SAFE SHELTER.
<
WCJIN-WYSE-WYNE

JLH
Special weather statement, Aug 22, 6:02 PM MDT, 2 hours 23 minutes before
WYZ059-060-064-067>069-230040-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
600 PM MDT THU AUG 22 1996

...SOME STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE RUMBLING IN THE DOUGLAS AREA...

AT 555 PM MD
Special weather statement, Aug 22, 7:53 PM MDT, 32 minutes before
WYZ068-230220-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
752 PM MDT THU AUG 22 1996

...A FEW STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER NORTHERN GOSHEN COUNTY...

SOME THUNDERSTORMS HAD MOVED INTO NORTHERN GOSHEN COUNTY OF SOUTHEAST
WYOMING EARLY THIS EVENING.  AT 750 PM MDT...THE STRONGEST STORM WAS
25 MILES NORTHWEST OF TORRINGTON OR JUST NORTHWEST OF FORT LARAMIE.
THIE STORM WAS LIKELY PRODUCING HEAVY RAIN...SMALL HAIL AND DANGEROUS
.LIGHTNING.

ALL OF THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH.

IF A THUNDERSTORM APPROACHES YOUR LOCATION...GET TO A SAFE SHELTER.

WCJIN-WYSE

JLH

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 22, 6:39 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSAlbany, Platte36 min
Aug 22, 7:16 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSPlatte29 min
Aug 22, 7:28 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSAlbany17 min
Aug 22, 7:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSPlatte45 min
Aug 23, 5:16 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSPlatte29 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Wyoming, 1996Every tornado warning in 1996Tornadoes in 1996

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.