Alert archive / California / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 1, NWS Eureka, CA

March 4, 1996Humboldt County, California

NWS Eureka, CA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 4, 1996, 1:06 PM PST for Humboldt County, California. It was in force for 64 min. 1 report 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
Mar 4, 1996, 1:06 PM PST (21:06 UTC)
Expired
Mar 4, 1996, 2:10 PM PST
In force
64 min
Issued by
NWS Eureka, CA
Area
Whole counties

County Humboldt County, CA

The radar

The Eureka (Bunker Hill) radar (KBHX), 39 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:06 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.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Mar 4, 2:00 PM PSTHail 0.75Shelter Cove, CA

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.

The nearest sounding before it

Medford/Jackson, OR (KMFR), launched 12:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 207 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, Medford/Jackson, OR at 12:00Z on 1996-03-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Medford/Jackson, OR at 12:00Z on 1996-03-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 70 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
933 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
70 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
262 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 KEKA 042134 RRA
SVREKA
CAC023-042210-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR HIGH WINDS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EUREKA CA
106 PM PST MON MAR 04 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EUREKA CA HAS ISSUED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR HIGH WINDS EFFECTIVE UNTIL 210 PM PST FOR
PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN NORTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA

  ...SOUTHWESTERN HUMBOLDT COUNTY
     INCLUDING HONEYDEW AND PETROLIA

POSSIBLE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES WEST OF CAPE MENDOCINO MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH WITH POSSIBLE WINDS GREATER THAN 58 MPH.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 57 MPH
...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Eureka, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Mar 4, 8:05 AM PST, 5 hours 1 minute earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 4, 8:05 AM PST, 5 hours 1 minute before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EUREKA CA
800 AM PST MON MAR 4 1996

SQAL MOVG THRU HUMBOLDT BAY VCNTY MOVG NEWD ABT 30KTS ATTM. CNVGNT
BANDS ROTG THRU BROAD FETCH CYC FLOW CNTRD ALG 130W. UPR LVL LOW CNTR
BEING DRIVEN SEWD TO NR 30/130 AS DRIER/CLDR AIR SURGES SWD OFF CAN
CST JUST WITH MSTR GRAD SWD 40N ATTM. CNVTV ASSOC WITH UPR LOW RAPPED
ARND CNTR CONT MOV ESEWD AS THERMAL TROF AMP ALG CST THRUT TDA AND XPC
SCT TSTM OVR CSTL WTRS. NOT MUCH TM LOOK AT LTST MDLS WITH TELE CALLS
THIS MORNING AND WL MAKE SLGHT CHGS IN WORDG THIS UPDT FOR WND.
POPS CEC +95  EKA +95  UKI +95

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in California, 1996Every severe thunderstorm warning 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.