Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 28, NWS Missoula, MT

July 29, 1996Beaverhead County, Deer Lodge County, Silver Bow County, Montana

NWS Missoula, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 29, 1996, 1:10 PM MDT for Beaverhead County, Deer Lodge County, Silver Bow County, Montana. It was in force for 65 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 29, 1996, 1:10 PM MDT (19:10 UTC)
Expired: Jul 29, 1996, 2:15 PM MDT
In force: 65 min
Issued by: NWS Missoula, MT
Area: Whole counties

Counties Beaverhead County, MT, Deer Lodge County, MT, Silver Bow County, MT

The radar

The Missoula radar (KMSX), 172 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:10 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, 7.2 hours before the alert went out and 262 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: 2514 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -44 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -5 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 291911
SVRMSO
MTC001-023-093-292015-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
110 PM MDT MON JUL 29 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MISSOULA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  215 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN SOUTHWEST MONTANA
 
   ...NORTHERN BEAVERHEAD COUNTY...SOUTHERN DEER LODGE COUNTY
   ...SILVER BOW COUNTY
 
AT 110 PM MDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATES A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES
EAST OF WISDOM AND 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF WISE RIVER. THIS STORM IS MOVING
NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 5 MPH. WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED 1 INCH
DIAMETER HAIL IN WIDSOM WITH THIS STORM.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A
STRONG BUILDING.  DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...
AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.
STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.
 
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 29, 8:41 AM MDT, 4 hours 29 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 29, 8:41 AM MDT, 4 hours 29 minutes before

LOW LEVEL THERMAL TROUGH STILL TO OUR WEST...WHILE UPPER LEVEL RIDGE
HAS PASSED OVERHEAD. STRONG EASTERLY FLOW ASSOCIATED WITH THIS KEPT
WINDS UP ALL NIGHT IN MSO WITH RECORD WARM MINIMUM...AND FEEDING
CONVERGENCE THAT HAS SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSHOWERS GOING ACROSS
IDAHO AT THIS TIME. LOW LEVELS STILL VERY DRY IN MONTANA...WITH
LITTLE INDICATION THAT MOISTURE IS DEEPENING TO THE EAST OF THE
THERMAL TROUGH...WHEREAS WEST OF THE THERMAL TROUGH MOISTURE HAS
DEEPENED CONSIDERABLY. CURRENT FORECASTS FOLLOW THIS REASONING WITH
FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR IDAHO PORTION AND GUSTY WIND POTENTIAL IN
MONTANA PORTION...AND SEE NO REASON TO CHANGE. THERMAL TROUGH MOVES
VERY SLOWLY EASTWARD TODAY IN MODELS...SO INCREASING POPS FOR MONTANA
PORTION OK. WITH BEST DEVELOPMENT RIGHT NOW IN IDAHO PANHANDLE...WILL
SUGGEST BUMPING UP POPS IN NORTHWEST TO THE SAME LEVELS AS ELSEWHERE.
TEMPERATURES TRICKY...DEFINITELY COOLER THAN YESTERDAY WITH MORE
CLOUDS...BUT BEST CLOUDINESS STILL TO WEST AND ONLY CREEPING TOWARD
US. CURRENT FORECASTS ARE REASONABLE AND WILL LEAVE THEM FOR NOW.
BARKER.

FCA 222 090/055/090
LIB 222 089/057/086
POL 222 090/060/086
MSO 222 094/059/090
HMM 223 093/056/091
FN/01

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 29, 12:35 PM MDT, 35 minutes before

MTZ002-004-IDZ010-292130-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
1230 PM MDT MON JUL 29 1996

...THUNDERSTORMS BEGINNING TO DEVELOP IN WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST
   MONTANA...AND EAST CENTRAL IDAHO MOUNTAINS...

AT 1230 PM MDT DOPPLER RADAR...SATELLITE IMAGERY...AND AUTOMATED
LIGHTING DETECTION EQUIPMENT INDICATE THAT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS
ARE BEGINNING TO BUILD OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF WEST CENTRAL AND
SOUTHWEST MONTANA...AND THE EAST CENTRAL MOUNTAINS OF IDAHO.  THESE
STORMS ARE MAINLY SOUTH OF A LINE RUNNING FROM STEVENSVILLE TO
BUTTE...AND ARE MOVING ONLY VERY SLOWLY TO THE NORTH.

THE STORMS IN MONTANA ARE OCCURRING OVER AREAS WITH VERY DRY AIR AT
THE LOW LEVELS...AND THEY WILL LIKELY BRING GUSTY WINDS TO AREAS OF
SOUTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MONTANA OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS.  THE
STORMS FURTHER SOUTH IN IDAHO HAVE DEEPER MOISTURE TO WORK WITH...AND
HEAVY RAINFALL IS A POSSIBILITY WITH THESE STORMS.  AS THE AFTERNOON
PROGRESSES...THE DEEPER MOISTURE WILL WORK ITS WAY INTO MONTANA
BRINGING THE POSSIBILITY OF HEAVY RAINFALL INTO THIS AREA AS WELL
LATER THIS EVENING.

ALL THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE LIGHTNING AND POSSIBLY SMALL HAIL. IF
THUNDERSTORMS APPROACH YOUR AREA...SEEK SHELTER INDOORS.  REMEMBER
THAT LIGHTNING CAN KILL.  STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON THESE
STORMS.

END/BARKER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 29, 3:18 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MSO	Silver Bow	57 min
Jul 29, 4:26 PM MDT	Flash Flood Warning	MSO	Silver Bow	3 hr

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.