Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 14, NWS North Platte, NE

July 7, 1996Cherry County, Nebraska

NWS North Platte, NE issued this tornado warning at Jul 7, 1996, 4:25 PM MDT for Cherry County, Nebraska. It was in force for 35 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
Jul 7, 1996, 4:25 PM MDT (22:25 UTC)
Expired
Jul 7, 1996, 5:00 PM MDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS North Platte, NE
Area
Whole counties

County Cherry County, NE

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 79 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:25 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
Jul 7, 4:30 PM MDTTornado F0Valentine, NE
Jul 7, 5:10 PM MDTHail 1Valentine, 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 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 163 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 12:00Z on 1996-07-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 12:00Z on 1996-07-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -125 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1921 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-125 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-52 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLBF 072225
TORLBF
NEC031-072300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
525 PM CDT (425 PM MDT) SUN JUL 7 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTH PLATTE NE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 600 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA

   ...NORTH CENTRAL CHERRY COUNTY
 
AT 525 PM CDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY NORTH PLATTE
DOPPLER RADAR 44 MILES WEST OF VALENTINE OR 5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF ELI
MOVING EAST SOUTHEAST AT 34 MPH. THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN IN
OPEN COUNTRY SOUTHEAST OF ELI AND SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 20.

STRONG DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH AND LARGE HAIL ARE ALSO
LIKELY WITH THIS STORM.
 
ACT QUICKLY. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. IF YOU ARE IN THE
PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF AVAILABLE.
OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.

MICHELS

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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 7, 1:55 PM MDT, 2 hours 30 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
255 PM CDT SUN JUL 7 1996

...MAIN CONCERN IS TSTMS...HOW LONG AND HOW BAD...
TSTMS ALREADY FIRING OVR SW SD AND MOVG TO THE SOUTHEAST AND ALREADY
SVR. THESE TSTMS ON THE NOSE OF HIGH DEW PT AXIS AND STORMS MAY
DMNSH AS THEY MOVE INTO SLIGHTLY DRIER AIR.  WOULD EXPECT THE MAIN
THREAT TO COME LATER THIS EVENING OR EARLY TNGT WHEN SFC FRONT MOVES
INTO THE REGION.  COLD FRONT DEVELPING OVR ND-ERN MT THIS AFTN AND SHD
QUICKLY DROP INTO TROF FROM ERN SD INTO NWRN NE.  MOIST...UNSTABLE AIR
IN PLACE AHEAD OF FRONT WITH UPSLOPE CONTINUING.  NGM WOULD LOCATE FRONT
FROM VTN TO LBF BY 06Z.  88D VAD INDICATES PROFILE BECOMING MORE FAVORABLE
FOR SUPERCELL/ORGANIZED SVR.

GOING FCST FOR TNGT LOOKS GOOD...POPS MAYBE A LITTLE STRONG.  GOTTA GO...
SVR TSTMS APPROACHING CWA.

GEB

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 7, 3:33 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFCherry62 min
Jul 7, 3:53 PM MDTTornado WarningLBFCherry32 min
Jul 7, 4:53 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFHooker62 min
Jul 7, 5:00 PM MDTTornado WarningLBFCherry30 min
Jul 7, 5:03 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFCherry62 min
Jul 7, 5:09 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFGrant66 min
Jul 7, 5:20 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFThomas65 min
Jul 7, 5:35 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFMcPherson65 min
Jul 7, 5:38 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFBrown62 min
Jul 7, 5:52 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFHooker63 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.