Alert archive / Nebraska / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Omaha, NE

May 8, 1996Gage County, Lancaster County, Nebraska

NWS Omaha, NE issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 8, 1996, 8:42 PM CDT for Gage County, Lancaster County, Nebraska. It was in force for 48 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
May 8, 1996, 8:42 PM CDT (01:42 UTC)
Expired
May 8, 1996, 9:30 PM CDT
In force
48 min
Issued by
NWS Omaha, NE
Area
Whole counties

Counties Gage County, NE, Lancaster County, NE

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 93 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:43 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
May 8, 8:44 PM CDTTornado F2Beatrice, NE
May 8, 9:05 PM CDTHail 0.75Beatrice, 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

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 00:00Z, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 93 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, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 1996-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1091 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 1996-05-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 94 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1091 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-45 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
739 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
94 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
84 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
3.2

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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 8, 4:09 PM CDT, 4 hours 33 minutes before
NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034-042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-
IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-091200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
410 PM CDT WED MAY 8 1996

...SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA...

SPOTTER ACTION...
STORM SPOTTER GROUPS IN EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA MAY NEED TO
BE ACTIVATED AGAIN LATER THIS EVENING OR TONIGHT.

DISCUSSION...
THERE IS A RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT OVER
EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA.  THE MOST FAVORED AREA FOR SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT WILL BE OVER SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST
IOWA THIS EVENING...WITH A FEW SEVERE STORMS DEVELOPING NORTHWARD INTO
NORTHEAST NEBRASKA AND WEST-CENTRAL IOWA LATER TONIGHT.  THE PRIMARY
THREAT FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE LARGE HAIL...HEAVY RAINFALL AND FLASH
FLOODING.

THE THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY TO DEVELOP OVER NORTH-CENTRAL KANSAS THIS
EVENING SPREADING NORTHEAST INTO SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST
IOWA.  AS AN UPPER DISTURBANCE APPROACHES THE AREA FROM THE
WEST...THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL GRADUALLY INCREASE FURTHER NORTH INTO
NORTHERN SECTIONS OF NEBRASKA AND WESTERN SECTIONS OF IOWA.

 HINSON/POLLACK

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 8, 8:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXGage, Saline36 min
May 8, 8:50 PM CDTTornado WarningOAXGage, Lancaster40 min
May 8, 9:11 PM CDTTornado WarningOAXJefferson49 min
May 8, 9:15 PM CDTTornado WarningOAXJohnson, Nemaha, Otoe30 min
May 8, 9:29 PM CDTTornado WarningOAXGage, Johnson46 min
May 8, 9:52 PM CDTTornado WarningOAXJefferson38 min
May 8, 10:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXLancaster, Saunders54 min
May 8, 10:13 PM CDTTornado WarningOAXJohnson47 min
May 8, 10:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXGage48 min
May 8, 10:31 PM CDTTornado WarningOAXGage44 min
May 8, 11:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXDodge47 min
May 9, 12:25 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXMadison, Stanton50 min
May 9, 12:30 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXBurt, Cuming30 min
May 9, 12:48 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXSaline, Seward42 min
May 9, 1:30 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXLancaster45 min
May 9, 1:40 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXColfax50 min
May 9, 3:55 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningOAXLancaster, Otoe5 hr
May 9, 6:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXJefferson46 min
May 8, 9:37 PM CDTTornado WarningOAXMills, Montgomery38 min
May 8, 9:37 PM CDTTornado WarningOAXMills, Montgomery53 min
May 8, 10:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXFremont37 min
May 8, 11:05 PM CDTTornado WarningOAXFremont, Page40 min
May 8, 11:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXPage60 min
May 9, 12:01 AM CDTTornado WarningOAXPage29 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Nebraska, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.