Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 27, NWS Missoula, MT

July 2, 1996Flathead County, Montana

NWS Missoula, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 2, 1996, 10:10 PM MDT for Flathead County, Montana. It was in force for 50 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 2, 1996, 10:10 PM MDT (04:10 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 1996, 11:00 PM MDT
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Missoula, MT
Area: Whole counties

County Flathead County, MT

The radar

The Missoula radar (KMSX), 140 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:14 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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jul 2, 10:10 PM MDT	Hail 1.75	Glacier Park, MT
Jul 2, 10:20 PM MDT	Hail 1	Columbia Falls, MT

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

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 00:00Z, 4.2 hours before the alert went out and 274 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: 964 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -48 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2891 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 92 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 170 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 5.7

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.

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, 8 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 2, 1:45 PM MDT, 8 hours 25 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, 5:15 PM MDT, 4 hours 55 minutes before

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The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 2, 6:26 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MSO	Lake	49 min
Jul 2, 6:47 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MSO	Flathead	58 min
Jul 2, 8:00 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MSO	Flathead	45 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.