Alert archive / California / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 4, NWS Hanford, CA

April 1, 1996Merced County, California

NWS Hanford, CA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 1, 1996, 3:14 PM PST for Merced County, California. It was in force for 46 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
Apr 1, 1996, 3:14 PM PST (23:14 UTC)
Expired
Apr 1, 1996, 4:00 PM PST
In force
46 min
Issued by
NWS Hanford, CA
Area
Whole counties

County Merced County, CA

The radar

The San Francisco radar (KMUX), 105 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:26 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.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Apr 1, 3:45 PM PSTTornado F0Merced, 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

Oakland, CA (KOAK), launched 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 144 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, Oakland, CA at 12:00Z on 1996-04-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 4 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, Oakland, CA at 12:00Z on 1996-04-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 83 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
4 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-19 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
701 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
83 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
156 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Hanford, CA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 1, 3:50 PM PSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningHNXMadera40 min

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.