Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 22, NWS Missoula, MT

July 2, 1996Missoula County, Powell County, Montana

NWS Missoula, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 2, 1996, 5:03 PM MDT for Missoula County, Powell County, Montana. It was in force for 57 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: Jul 2, 1996, 5:03 PM MDT (23:03 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 1996, 6:00 PM MDT
In force: 57 min
Issued by: NWS Missoula, MT
Area: Whole counties

Counties Missoula County, MT, Powell County, MT

The radar

The Missoula radar (KMSX), 43 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:04 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

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 12:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 221 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 2904 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -31 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -13 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 KMSO 022303
SVRMSO
MTC063-077-030000-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
503 PM MDT TUE JUL 2 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MISSOULA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  600 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN WEST CENTRAL MONTANA
 
   ...EASTERN MISSOULA COUNTY...
   ...CENTRAL POWELL COUNTY...
 
 
DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATES A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES NORTH OF
POTOMAC. THIS STORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH AND WILL CROSS MONTANA
HIGHWAYS 200 AND 83...NEARING THE TOWNS OF SEELEY LAKE AND OVANDO BY 530
MDT.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.
 
END/BARKER

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Missoula, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 2, 1:45 PM MDT, 3 hours 18 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 2, 1:45 PM MDT, 3 hours 18 minutes before

SATELLITE AND RADAR SHOWING CU BUILDING AND SHOWERS DEVELOPING OVER
SOUTHERN RAVALLI...LEMHI AND BEAVERHEAD COUNTIES. FOLLOWING MOS
GUIDANCE...WILL INCREASE POPS FOR TONIGHT A TAD WITH POSSIBLE
THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. WILL COMPROMISE BETWEEN NGM AND AVN ON
TEMPERATURES. NGM AND MESO ETA MODELS PREFERRED THIS
AFTERNOON...SHOWING MORE DETAIL ON VORT LOBE CURRENTLY OVER
OREGON...CLIPPING ID PANHANDLE AND NORTHWEST MONTANA THIS EVENING.
ATMOSPHERE UNSTABLE BUT STILL WITH LIMITED MOISTURE THROUGH
WEDNESDAY...THEN INCREASING WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY. DEWPOINTS
ARE UP A FEW DEGREES TODAY IN THE LOW TO MID 50S. MONSOONAL MOISTURE
MOVING INTO SOUTHERN NEVADA AT THIS TIME. BOTH ETA...NGM AND MESO ETA
FORECAST PRECIP. OVER THE WEST THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH 48HR PERIOD.
AVN BRINGS IN PRECIP. ON THURSDAY ONLY. NGM AND ETA DO NOT SHOW HINT
OF MONSOONAL MOISTURE GETTING ENTRAINED WITH FRONTAL BAND EXPECTED
OVER THE AREA LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING. AVN DOES
SHOW POSSIBLE ENTRAINMENT. REGARDLESS OF ENTRAINMENT ...FRONTAL BAND
SHOULD INCREASE CLOUDS AND POPS OVERNIGHT WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY.
FOR THE FOURTH OF JULY...AFTER THE FRONT PASSES IN THE
MORNING...GUSTY WINDS AND MORE STABLE AIRMASS EXPECTED WITH PLENTY OF
CLOUDS AS SURFACE RIDGE PUSHES INTO THE AREA. FELSCH

FCA 2123 052/085/052/080
LIB 2123 053/090/053/083
POL 2123 059/085/059/078
MSO 2123 055/090/055/083
HMM 2123 057/094/057/085
FN/05

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 2, 2:03 PM MDT, 3 hours before

MTZ004-IDZ010-022250-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
200 PM MDT (1250 PM PDT) TUE JUL 2 1996

...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER THE EAST CENTRAL
MOUNTAINS OF IDAHO...AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA THIS AFTERNOON...

AT 200 PM MDT...SATELLITE AND RADAR IMAGERY INDICATED SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER NORTHERN LEMHI COUNTY OF IDAHO AND
BEAVERHEAD COUNTY OF MONTANA. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING
TO THE NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

LOOK FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO CONTINUE TO INCREASE OVER THE
AREA THIS AFTERNOON. FREQUENT LIGHTNING...SMALL HAIL...GUSTY WINDS
AND HEAVY RAIN ARE ALL POSSIBLE WITH THESE THUNDERSTORMS.

REMEMBER IF YOU ARE NEARX A THUNDERSTORM...SEEK SHELTER UNTIL THE
STORM HAS PASSED. LIGHTNING CAN BE A KILLER.

FELSCH

The office that day

Everything else NWS Missoula, MT issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 2, 5:59 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MSO	Powell	31 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Montana, 1996 Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.