Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 22, NWS Hastings, NE
NWS Hastings, NE issued this tornado warning at Aug 4, 1996, 7:50 PM CDT for Hall County, Nebraska. It was in force for 40 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
- Aug 4, 1996, 7:50 PM CDT (00:50 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 4, 1996, 8:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 40 min
- Issued by
- NWS Hastings, NE
- Area
- Whole counties
County Hall County, NE
The radar
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 62 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:51 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
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 8:00 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Grand Is, NE |
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
N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 00:00Z, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 178 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
- 3040 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -28 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1320 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 57 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 38 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 81 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.7
- Supercell composite
- 6.9
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KGRI 050050 TORGRI NEC079-050130- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 750 PM CDT SUN AUG 4 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS NE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 830 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA ...HALL COUNTY ...PERSONS IN ALDA AND WOOD RIVER SHOULD SEEK SHELTER IN A BASEMENT OR TORNADO SHELTER NOW! AT 750 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSBILE TORNADO 12 MILES NORTHWEST OF HASTINGS...OR JUST SOUTH OF THE WOOD RIVER INTERCHANGE. THIS STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH AND WILL APPROACH GRAND ISLAND AROUND 810 PM. PERSONS IN THE WARNED AREA SHOULD TAKE SHELTER IN A BASEMENT IF AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. CARS AND MOBILE HOMES SHOULD BE ABANDONED. MLM/JAB
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.
NWS Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Aug 4, 2:28 PM CDT, 5 hours 22 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 4, 2:28 PM CDT, 5 hours 22 minutes before
CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 226 PM CDT SUN AUG 4 1996 SEVERE WEATHER THREAT TONIGHT OF IMMEDIATE CONCERN. KUEX 88D WITH THUNDERSTORMS REPEATING OVER SAME AREA FROM LXN TO GREELEY. NEXT TRIGGER MECHANISM APPEARS TO LINE OF RETURN FROM LBF TO MCK. THIS ALSO SEEN ON 1KM VIS SHOT. THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TO INCREASE OVER NEBRASKA CWA BY LATE AFTERNOON. WIND PROFILE AND HIGH INSTABILITY MAY SUPPORT ISOLATED SUPERCELLS. WILL LIKELY MENTION POSSIBLE OF SEVERE IN NORTH CENTRAL ZONES TONIGHT WITH CYCLOGENISIS IN NORTHWEST KANSAS STRENGTHENING SFC MOISTURE CONVERG. VERY QUICK LOOK AT MODELS...ONLY AVN/ETA GRIDS...GIVES THIS INTERPRETATION. BOTH AVN/ETA GRIDDED DATA MOVE H7 WAV FROM COLORADO UP INTO CWA BY TONIGHT. FINE UPPER DIVERGENCE IN RR QUAD OF JET FROM NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA TO NORTH DAKOTA. THE COMBINATION OF FAVORALBE JET DYNAMICS AND WAVE MAY QUICK MORE INTENSE STORMS TOWARD MIDNIGHT. THIS COULD VERY WELL BE THE BEGINNING OF THE TALKED ABOUT MCS MOVING INTO IOWA REGION. FRONT NEVER REALLY COMES ON THROUGH AS UPPER FLOW LEAVES LITTLE TO PUSH IT. ACTUALLY...ANOTHER COLD POOL OF -25C H5 AIR OVER BRITISH COLUMBIA ATTM WILL DIVE INTO BACK SIDE OF TROF. EXPECT THIS TO ACTUALLY BE COLD PUSH...AS LEAD FRONT WILL WASH OUT...RETREAT OR WHAT HAVE YOU. THE SECOND FRONT LOOKS LIKE IT MAY WORK IN HERE TUESDAY...FURTHER NORTH WILL HAVE BEST DYNAMICS AT FIRST GLANCE. GUIDANCE WISE...WENT A BIT WARMER THAN PREVIOUS FORECAST GIVING SLOWING FRONT. WILL BE VERY WARM AND HUMID SOUTH TONIGHT. PER CALL WITH TOP WILL HIGHLIGHT THIS. AMOUNT OF SUNSHINE NORTH TOMORROW STILL IN QUESTION AND WILL PLAY LROLE IN TEMPS. LIKE THE FWC POPS BETTER. GRI 070/088 63 HBR 071/091 63 ODX 068/086 73 BEL 073/094 43 LXN 066/084 62 MORITZ
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Aug 4, 3:30 PM CDT, 4 hours 20 minutes before
KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-050500- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 329 PM CDT SUN AUG 4 1996 ...SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND FOR A PART OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS... SPOTTER ACTION...IT IS EXPECTED SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE NEEDED ACROSS THE AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON OR TONIGHT. SYNOPSIS... THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL NEBARSKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS. AT 315 PM...A TORNADO WATCH WAS IN EFFECT FOR NEARLY ALL OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA UNTIL 800 PM. TEMPERATURES IN THE UPPER 80S TO LOWER 90S...AND SURFACE DEWPOINTS IN THE LOWER 70S HAVE COMBINED TO FORM A VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS OVER THE REGION. ONE AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON NORTH AND WEST OF A LINE FROM CENTRAL CITY NEBRASKA TO PHILLIPSBURG KANSAS. A FEW OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE AS THEY MOVE QUICKLY NORTHEAST. THUNDERSTORMS SOUTH AND EAST OF THAT LINE WILL LIKELY OCCUR AFTER 500 PM. BY THIS EVENING...A STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL PUSH NORTH INTO NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS AND SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. THIS DISTURBANCE WILL TEAM WITH INCREASING LIFT IN THE LOWER ATMOSPHERE AND TRIGGER NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS. WIND PROFILES AND THE HIGH INSTABILITY WILL HELP PRODUCE AN ENVIRONMENT FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...SOME OF WHICH WILL PRODUCE LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND POSSIBLY TORNADOES. EVEN THOUGH THE INITIAL TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM IN SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA...THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY FOR SEVERE WEATHER TO CONTINUE INTO THE NIGHT OVER THE AREA. ( ALL INTERESTED PARTIES SHOULD CONTINUE TO MONITOR THIS POTENT WEATHER SITUATION BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION. LISTEN TO LOCAL MEDIA OR NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADIO FOR THE LATEST STATEMENTS AND FORECASTS. MORITZ
The office that day
Everything else NWS Hastings, NE issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 7:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Hall, Howard, Merrick | 40 min |
| Aug 4, 11:40 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Buffalo, Kearney, Phelps | 35 min |
| Aug 5, 12:23 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Franklin, Webster | 37 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.