Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 60, NWS Goodland, KS

August 10, 1996Red Willow County, Nebraska

NWS Goodland, KS issued this tornado warning at Aug 10, 1996, 8:39 PM CDT for Red Willow County, Nebraska. It was in force for 51 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 10, 1996, 8:39 PM CDT (01:39 UTC)
Expired
Aug 10, 1996, 9:30 PM CDT
In force
51 min
Issued by
NWS Goodland, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Red Willow County, NE

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 138 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:40 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
Aug 10, 8:45 PM CDTHail 1.75Indianola, 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, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 107 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 1996-08-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1239 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 1996-08-11The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 97 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1239 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-19 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1758 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
97 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
165 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
6.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGLD 110139
TORGLD
NEC145-110230-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
739 PM MDT (839 PM CDT) SAT AUG 10 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GOODLAND KS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 930 PM CDT (830 PM MDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA

   ...SOUTHEASTERN RED WILLOW COUNTY
 
AT 838 PM CDT...A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR AND
SPOTTER REPORTS 12 MILES EAST OF MCCOOK OR 5 MILES SOUTH OF INDIANOLA
MOVING SOUTH AT 25 MPH.

AT PRESENT MOVEMENT THE TORNADO WILL BE AROUND....
  DANBURY                     BY 858 PM CDT

A TORNADO IS ON THE GROUND! GO TO THE BASEMENT! IF A BASEMENT IS NOT
AVAILABLE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!

SKIPPER
 

&

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 Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Aug 10, 3:46 PM CDT, 4 hours 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 10, 3:46 PM CDT, 4 hours 53 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
246 PM MDT (346 PM CDT) SAT AUG 10 1996

FCST DISC:

...MAIN FCST PROBLEM IS TRW POPS TNGT AND FOG DVLPMNT IN AM...
MODIFIED SOUNDINGS HAVE REVEALED CAPES RANGING BETWEEN 1K AND 2K
J/KG ACROSS THE AREA AND PROFILERS SHOW MAINLY NLY FLOW TO UPPER
LAYERS OF THE ATMOS. UPPER AIR DATA FROM THIS MORNING REVEALED SHORT
WAVE AT H3 MAKING ITS WAY ACROSS THE CWA TDY...OTHERWISE DRYING
ELSEWHERE WITH SOME CAA IN UPR LVLS. FEEL THAT DESTABILIZING ATMOS
IS CONDUCIVE TO SOME TRW...BUT MAINLY CLOSE TO THE ROCKIES. STORM
MOVEMENT SHOULD HAVE A GOOD SOUTHERLY COMPONENT ALONG THCKNESS
GRADIENT...SO MAIN THREAT FOR US I BELIEVE WILL BE ONLY OVER ERN CO
AND SW NE ZONES FM STORMS THAT FORM IN ERN WY AND NORTH-CEN CO.
MESO-ETA LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE FIELDS ALSO HINT AT SOMETHING
DEVELOPING OVER SOUTH-CEN KS/CO BORDER AREA ALONG SFC MOISTURE
GRADIENT AND XTNDG NE TO OUR ERN ZONES. FOR THIS REASON...AS WELL AS
25 PERCENT HLC POPS...I HAVE INCLUDED CHANCES IN OUR FAR SRN AND ERN
COUNTIES.

GOOD SUBSIDENCE IN MOST AREA TSCT/S FROM GRIDDED ETA INDICATE GOOD
SUBSIDENCE OVRNGT...AND FEEL RADIATIONAL COOLING WILL ALLOW TEMPS TO
FALL TO NEAR DWPT VALUES. HAVE INCLUDED MENTION IN MOST ZONES.

FOR OUT PERIODS...WITH SFC HIGH AND DOMINANT NORTHERLY FLOW TO
EVOLVE...I FELT THAT KNOCKING MOS HIGHS DOWN A BIT WAS WARRANTED.
WITH THINGS DRYING OUT AS MODELS INDICATED...WE SHUD WARM UP
WELL...BUT I DON/T FEEL ANYTHING HIGHER THAN MID 90S IS IN STORE.

GLD 056/088/058/095 -00    HLC 060/086/060/093 200
CBK 057/088/059/094 -00    MCK 059/087/059/093 200
TRB 059/090/059/097 100    ITR 055/089/057/094 100

STAVISH

The office that day

Everything else NWS Goodland, KS issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 10, 8:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDRed Willow62 min
Aug 10, 8:21 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDRed Willow34 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.