Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 68, NWS Omaha, NE

October 26, 1996Knox County, Nebraska

NWS Omaha, NE issued this tornado warning at Oct 26, 1996, 9:59 AM CDT for Knox County, Nebraska. It was in force for 31 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: Oct 26, 1996, 9:59 AM CDT (14:59 UTC)
Expired: Oct 26, 1996, 10:30 AM CDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Omaha, NE
Area: Whole counties

County Knox County, NE

The radar

The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 142 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:02 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
Oct 26, 10:00 AM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Niobrara, NE
Oct 26, 10:00 AM CDT	Tornado F0	Verdigre, 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 12:00Z, 3.0 hours before the alert went out and 193 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: 232 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -19 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 580 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 64 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 323 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 265 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 KOMA 261501
TOROMA
NEC107-261530-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
959 AM CDT SAT OCT 26 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA/VALLEY HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1030 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST NEBRASKA
 
   ...KNOX COUNTY
 
AT 1000 AM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO JUST SOUTHEAST OF
VERDIGRE...35 MILES SOUTHWEST OF YANKTON. THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTH AT
40 MPH AND WILL PASS NEAR VERDIGRE TO AROUND NIOBRARA BY 1015 AM.
 
PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO SHOULD TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY TO
SAVE YOUR LIVES.  MOVE TO A STURDY BUILDING...A BASEMENT IF POSSIBLE
...AND COVER YOUR ~HEAD FROM FLYING DEBRIS.
 
CHERMOK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 26, 9:31 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Knox	29 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes 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.