Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 2, NWS Omaha, NE
NWS Omaha, NE issued this tornado warning at May 8, 1996, 9:11 PM CDT for Jefferson County, Nebraska. It was in force for 49 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, 9:11 PM CDT (02:11 UTC)
- Expired
- May 8, 1996, 10:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 49 min
- Issued by
- NWS Omaha, NE
- Area
- Whole counties
County Jefferson County, NE
The radar
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 111 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 8, 9:30 PM CDT | Tornado F1 | Gladstone, NE | |
| May 8, 10:00 PM CDT | Tornado F1 | Harbine, 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, 2.2 hours before the alert went out and 143 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.
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KOMA 090212 TOROMA NEC095-090300- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 911 PM CDT WED MAY 8 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA/VALLEY HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1000 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA ...JEFFERSON COUNTY AT 908 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES WEST-SOUTHWEST OF FAIRBURY MOVING EAST-NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. ALSO WAS A TORNADO WAS INDICATED IN THAYER COUNTY HEADED EAST INTO JEFFERSON COUNTY. TOWNS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE FAIRBURY...AND JANSEN. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE LIKELY WITH THIS STORM. A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA. REMEMBER THESE STORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE A TORNADO WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM...PREFERABLY A BASEMENT...AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado 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, 5 hours 2 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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 8, 8:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Gage, Saline | 36 min |
| May 8, 8:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Gage, Lancaster | 48 min |
| May 8, 8:50 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | OAX | Gage, Lancaster | 40 min |
| May 8, 9:15 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | OAX | Johnson, Nemaha, Otoe | 30 min |
| May 8, 9:29 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | OAX | Gage, Johnson | 46 min |
| May 8, 9:52 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | OAX | Jefferson | 38 min |
| May 8, 10:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Lancaster, Saunders | 54 min |
| May 8, 10:13 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | OAX | Johnson | 47 min |
| May 8, 10:27 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Gage | 48 min |
| May 8, 10:31 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | OAX | Gage | 44 min |
| May 8, 11:43 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Dodge | 47 min |
| May 9, 12:25 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Madison, Stanton | 50 min |
| May 9, 12:30 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Burt, Cuming | 30 min |
| May 9, 12:48 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Saline, Seward | 42 min |
| May 9, 1:30 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Lancaster | 45 min |
| May 9, 1:40 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Colfax | 50 min |
| May 9, 3:55 AM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | OAX | Lancaster, Otoe | 5 hr |
| May 9, 6:59 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Jefferson | 46 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 1996Every tornado warning in 1996Tornadoes 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.