Alert archive / Idaho / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 3, NWS Pocatello, ID

May 16, 1996Bannock County, Idaho

NWS Pocatello, ID issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 16, 1996, 12:22 PM MDT for Bannock County, Idaho. It was in force for 38 min. 1 report 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 16, 1996, 12:22 PM MDT (18:22 UTC)
Expired
May 16, 1996, 1:00 PM MDT
In force
38 min
Issued by
NWS Pocatello, ID
Area
Whole counties

County Bannock County, ID

The radar

The Pocatello radar (KSFX), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:28 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 16, 1:00 PM MDTThunderstorm Wind 50Pocatello, ID

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

Elko, NV (KLKN), launched 12:00Z, 6.4 hours before the alert went out and 259 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, Elko, NV at 12:00Z on 1996-05-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 197 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Elko, NV at 12:00Z on 1996-05-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 37 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
197 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-27 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
684 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
59 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

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.

NWS Pocatello, ID wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 16, 8:47 AM MDT, 3 hours 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 16, 8:47 AM MDT, 3 hours 35 minutes before
UNSTABLE CONDITIONS OVER EASTERN IDAHO TODAY MEANS SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS THAT HAVE BEGUN TO REDEVELOP THIS MORNING WILL CONTINUE
INTO THIS AFTERNOON. STRONG SHORTWAVE IN NORTHERN NEVADA AND UPPER
DIVERGENCE IN THE LEFT EXIT REGION OF JET PROPAGATING NORTHEAST
THROUGH NEVADA AND INTO EASTERN IDAHO. THERE APPEARS TO BE A
WARMFRONTAL TYPE OF FORCING AS WELL WITH SHOWER ACTIVITY THAT PASSED
EAST AND SOUTH OF PIH/IDA OVERNIGHT AND HAS NOW BEGUN TO BUILD BACK
TO THE NORTH IN ADVANCE OF PREVIOSLY MENTIONED SHORTWAVE. WARM SECTOR
OVER UTAH WITH SALT LAKE IN THE 70S. PRESENT ZONES AND NOW COVER
THINGS WELL ENOUGH. NO MODEL DATA SO WILL LOOK AT LATER PERIODS IN
THE AFTERNOON AFD. DJB

PIH WE 065/048 065/047 067 06864
IDA WE 064/048 063/045 065 06864

The office that day

Everything else NWS Pocatello, ID issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 11:37 AM MDTFlash Flood WarningPIHBlaine3 hr
May 16, 11:55 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHPower50 min
May 16, 12:06 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHBingham, Blaine54 min
May 16, 12:53 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHCaribou37 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Idaho, 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.