Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 39, NWS Missoula, MT

September 13, 1996Missoula County, Montana

NWS Missoula, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 13, 1996, 4:25 PM MDT for Missoula County, Montana. It was in force for 50 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
Sep 13, 1996, 4:25 PM MDT (22:25 UTC)
Expired
Sep 13, 1996, 5:15 PM MDT
In force
50 min
Issued by
NWS Missoula, MT
Area
Whole counties

County Missoula County, MT

The radar

The Missoula radar (KMSX), 5 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:27 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

Spokane, WA (KOTX), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 201 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, Spokane, WA at 12:00Z on 1996-09-13Temperature 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, Spokane, WA at 12:00Z on 1996-09-13The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 11 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1167 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
83 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMSO 132224
SVRMSO
MTC063-132315-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
425 PM MDT FRI SEP 13 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MISSOULA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  515 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST CENTRAL MONTANA
 
   ...EASTERN MISSOULA COUNTY
 
AT 425 PM MDT...MISSOULA DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 5
MILES EAST OF MILLTOWN. THIS STORM IS MOVING TO THE NORTH AT 20 MPH AND
WILL MOVE INTO SOUTHERN MISSION MOUNTAINS...EAST OF SEELEY LAKE OVER THE
NEXT 45 MINUTES.
 
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.
 
BELTZ/CLEMMONS

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 Sep 13, 2:03 PM MDT, 2 hours 22 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 13, 2:03 PM MDT, 2 hours 22 minutes before
88D SHOWING A FEW 45 DBZ ECHOES DEVELOPING OVER THE BITTERROOTS AND
NORTHERN LEMHI COUNTY IN ID. ELSEWHERE A FEW LIGHT SHOWERS HAVE
DEVELOPED OVER WESTERN SANDERS AND SOUTHERN LINCOLN COUNTY IN MT. WV
IMAGERY SHOWING ANOTHER BAROCLINIC BAND...SE WASHINGTON DOWN INTO
SOUTH CENTRAL ID MOVING NORTH NORTHEAST. A FEW SHOWERS AND -TSRA HAVE
DEVELOP ALONG THIS BAND. AS UPPER 5H TROUGH APPROACHES THE FORECAST
AREA TONIGHT AND SATURDAY A SERIES OF S/WVS WILL MOVE THROUGH. FIRST
S/WV TO MOVE THROUGH TONIGHT IS FORECASTED TO BE WEAK...HOWEVER IT
DOES HAVE GOOD MOISTURE TO WORK WITH. SATURDAY FIRST S/WV EXITS THE
AREA SO LOWERING POPS SATURDAY. SECOND STRONGER S/WV COMES THROUGH
SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY...TIMING IS SOMEWHAT UNDETERMINED ATTM.
JET BEGINNING TO PICKUP BETTER MOISTURE BACK AT 160W WHICH MAY BECOME
INVOLVED IN SYSTEM ON SUNDAY...WORTH WATCHING THAT. THICKNESS AND
TEMPS SLOWLY DROP INTO THE WEEKEND. SATURDAY MAY HAVE BIG ENOUGH
BREAK BETWEEN SYSTEMS THAT SKIES MAY ALLOW ENOUGH BREAKS IN OVERCAST
FOR SLIGHTLY WARMER TEMPS THAN PREVIOUS FCST. SUNDAYS TEMPS...WENT
CLOSER TO MOS DUE TO CONTINUED COOLING AND BETTER CHANCES OF PRECIP.
TC

FCA 5466 048/067/046/065
LIB 5466 048/066/046/066
POL 5466 050/069/048/067
MSO 5456 050/070/048/068
HMM 5456 051/072/049/070
FN/29

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 13, 2:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMSOSanders45 min
Sep 13, 4:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMSOMineral, Missoula45 min

Nearby

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