Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Hastings, NE

May 9, 1996Thayer County, Nebraska

NWS Hastings, NE issued this tornado warning at May 9, 1996, 7:02 PM CDT for Thayer County, Nebraska. It was in force for 28 min. 2 reports 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
May 9, 1996, 7:02 PM CDT (00:02 UTC)
Expired
May 9, 1996, 7:30 PM CDT
In force
28 min
Issued by
NWS Hastings, NE
Area
Whole counties

County Thayer County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 74 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:06 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
May 9, 7:22 PM CDTHail 1.75Hebron, NE
May 9, 7:40 PM CDTHail 0.75Hebron, 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

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 00:00Z, 0.0 hours before the alert went out and 164 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, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 1996-05-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 282 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 1996-05-10The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 185 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
282 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-214 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
580 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
185 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
259 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
5.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KGRI 100003
TORGRI
NEC169-100030-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
702 PM CDT THU MAY 9 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS NE  HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  730 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA
 
   ...THAYER COUNTY
 
PERSONS IN THE TOWNS OF HEBRON...GILEAD AND ALEXANDRIA SHOULD BE
PREPARED TO TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY!
 
AT 700 PM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 8 MILES SOUTHEAST
OF HEBRON MOVING TO THE EAST NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.
 
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.

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 May 9, 3:00 PM CDT, 4 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 9, 3:00 PM CDT, 4 hours 2 minutes before
CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
300 PM CDT THU MAY 9 1996

THERE IS A GLIMPSE OF LIGHT AT THE END OF THE FLOODED SVR WX TUNNEL.

19Z SFC MAP NEARLY A REPEAT OF YDY WITH QSTNRY BNDRY ACRS SE NEB AND NC
KS WITH XCLLNT SURFACE MOISTURE CONVG SOUTH OF BNDRY. MODERATE COLD
FRONT ALSO DROPPING SOUTH ACROSS NRN NEB SANDHILLS. H20 VAP LOOP AM UA
ANAL AND PROF PLAN VIEWS SHOW MIDLVL S/WV AND UPPER LVL SPEED MAX
CROSSING INTERMTN RGN. LUKS AS THO NC KS...SE NEB WL BE THE TARGET THIS
EVENING WITH BOUNDARY IN VICINITY...BEST INSTABILITY...AND TRAK OF
UPPER SPEED MAX PROGGED FOR NE KS. SHUD SEE DVLPMNT AGAIN ERLY THIS EVE
AS LLJ INCRS. EXPECT ANOTHER DOUBLE WHAMMY AS SPD MAX ARRIVES THIS
EVE...WITH MIDLVL TROF XPCTD TO MOVE OUT INTO PLAINS FM MIDNIGHT
THROUGH FRIDAY AM.

MDLS GENLY AGREE WITH SHIFT IN UPR PATTERN FM SWLY FLO TO NWLY
FLOW...ALTHO DISCREPANCIES NOTED WITH SFC DVLPMNT. NGM APPEARS BEST
WITH POSN AND SPEED OF SFC LOW. WAVE DVLPS AND MOVES ACRS NE KS INTO IA
THRU FRIDAY...WITH COLR AIR FILTERING FM NORTH BHND TROF. AFTER SVR
BOUT TON...UPPER TROF MOVS ACRS CEN PLAINS BRINGING COLR...PERIODIC RAIN
FOR MOST OF FRI THEN...GRDL CLRG FRI NITE AND SAT AS UPR RIDGE BUILDS
OVER WEST.

HVY RAINS LAST COUPLE NIGHTS HV OCCURRED MAINLY IN TIGHT THETAE
GRADIENT ON NORTH SIDE OF THETAE AXIS. WITH THIS FEATURE PROGGED TO
SHIFT SLIGHTLY SOUTHEAST TON...AND MORE HVY CONVECTION XPCTD...HV
COORD WITH OMA AND FFA WL BE ISSUED BASICALLY SOUTH AND EAST OF AN
OLU-GRI-EAR LINE AS 2 DAYS WORTH OF 1-3" RAINS HV SOAKED PARTS OF AREA
PRETTY WELL.

AMS BHND ADVANCING COLD FNT OVR DAKS QUITE COLD WITH SNOW AT RAP AND BLV
GUID HAS MISSED THIS...THUS WL LIKELY LEAN TO COLR LOWS TON AND HI/S
FRIDAY WITH RAIN AND CLDS. LOOKING FORWARD TO SOME SS AGAIN SAT.

GRI 045/054 85         LXN 042/054 55
ODX 041/050 55         HEB 052/057 86
BLT 055/064 75

BREWSTER

The office that day

Everything else NWS Hastings, NE issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 9, 7:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDClay36 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.