Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Hastings, NE

May 22, 1996Webster County, Nebraska

NWS Hastings, NE issued this tornado warning at May 22, 1996, 11:26 PM CDT for Webster County, Nebraska. It was in force for 34 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: May 22, 1996, 11:26 PM CDT (04:26 UTC)
Expired: May 23, 1996, 12:00 AM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Hastings, NE
Area: Whole counties

County Webster County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 17 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:26 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

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 00:00Z, 4.4 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: 1020 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -61 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 870 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 205 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 306 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.6
Supercell composite: 7.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGRI 230426
TORGRI
NEC181-230500-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1126 PM CDT WED MAY 22 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS NE  HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA
 
   ...SOUTHERN WEBSTER COUNTY
 
IF YOU LIVE IN INAVALE...RED CLOUD AND GUIDE ROCK TAKE COVER NOW.
 
AT 1125 PM...THERE WAS A PUBLIC REPORbT OF A TORNADO ON THE GROUND SOUTH 
INAVALE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.  THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM...TAKE
COVER NOW!
 
 
 
PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO SHOULD TAKE COVER IN A REINFORCED
SHELTER.

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 22, 2:36 PM CDT, 8 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 22, 2:36 PM CDT, 8 hours 50 minutes before

CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
235 PM CDT TUE MAY 21 1996

MOST OF THE FREE WORLD EXPECTS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ACROSS THE
CWA...FORECAST PROBLEM IS TIMING AND EXACT LOCATIONS.

AT 18Z WARM FRONT (BASED ON 55 DEW POINTS) IN NORTHERN KS WITH A COOLER
AIR MASS SAGGIGNG SOUTHWARD FROM THE NORTHERN PLAINS.  ALSO CIRCULATION
AROUND A HIGH OVER MO WAS PUMPING SOME DRIER AIR INTO THE AREA.  UEX 88D
STARTING TO SHOW MID LEVEL REFLECTIVITIES ALONG A LINE FROM EAR TO HEBRON.
12Z U/A ANAL HAD 5H RIDGE OVHD WITH A LOW OVER THE PAC NW.  S/W DETECTED
OVER GREAT BASIN AND WV IMAGERY SHOWING THIS FEATURE MOVG EAST.

MODELS SIMILIAR IN THE DEEPING OF THE PAC NW LOW AND KEEP SW FLOW ALOFT.
IN ADDITION LOW PRESSURE IS MAINTAINED IN SW KS WITH A FRONTAL BOUNDARY
IN THE AREA NOT GOING ANYWHERE.  THEATA-E SUGGEST HEAVY RAIN IN ERN PTN
OF NEB CWA AND AGREE WITH OMA ON THE FFW FOR THE ERN COUNTIES.  WHEN LBF
SOUNDING MODIFIED THIS MORNING ATMOSPHERE BECOMES MODERATELY UNSTABLE AND
SO BELIEVE ITS JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THINGS COME TOGETHER.  WITH
LITTLE CHANGE IN THE OVERALL PATTERN LOOKS LIKE THURSDAY COULD BE A REPEAT
OF TODAY.  LOOKING FURTHER AHEAD FRIDAY LOOKS LIKE OVERRUNNING IN PLACE
SO IT APPEARS THE DROUGHT WILL CONTINUE.

MCS/MCC DEVELOPING TONIGHT NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION.

NUMERICAL GUIDANCE DEFINITELY SHOW A TEMPERATURE BOUNDARY BETWEEN SC NEB
AND NC KS.

GRI 058/075 74         HBR 057/076 74
ODX 055/070 74         BLT 062/088 62
LXN 055/072 74

GRIFFITH

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 22, 9:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Kearney	27 min
May 22, 9:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Franklin	27 min
May 22, 10:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Kearney	29 min
May 22, 10:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Nuckolls, Thayer	47 min
May 22, 10:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Adams, Webster	41 min
May 22, 10:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Webster	51 min
May 22, 10:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Hall	29 min
May 22, 11:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Nuckolls	44 min
May 22, 11:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Nuckolls	41 min
May 22, 11:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Thayer	39 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes 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.