Alert archive / Idaho / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 3, NWS Pocatello, ID
NWS Pocatello, ID issued this tornado warning at Aug 14, 1996, 7:59 PM MDT for Blaine County, Minidoka County, Idaho. It was in force for 16 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
- Aug 14, 1996, 7:59 PM MDT (01:59 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 14, 1996, 8:15 PM MDT
- In force
- 16 min
- Issued by
- NWS Pocatello, ID
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Blaine County, ID, Minidoka County, ID
The radar
The Pocatello radar (KSFX), 91 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:58 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
Elko, NV (KLKN), launched 00:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 254 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2949 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 31 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 78 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 116 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KPIH 150203 TORPIH IDC013-067-150215- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID 759 PM MDT WED AUG 14 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN POCATELLO HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 815 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...S... IN EAST CENTRAL IDAHO ...SOUTHEASTERN BLAINE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST IDAHO ...EAST CENTRAL MINIDOKA COUNTY AT 755 PM DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO MAY BE DEVELOPING IN EASTERN MINIDOKA COUNTY ABOUT 15 MILES NORTHEAST OF RUPERT. THE STORM THAT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS POSSIBLE TORNADO IS MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH AND WILL CROSS THE SOUTHEAST PORTION OF BLAINE COUNTY WELL NORTH OF INTERSTATE 86 AND 84. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.
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.
NWS Pocatello, ID wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Aug 14, 2:33 PM MDT, 5 hours 26 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 14, 2:33 PM MDT, 5 hours 26 minutes before
KSFX 88D/DIAL IN TO NEIGHBORING RADARS AT 1945Z SHOW ONLY WIDELY SCATTERED TSRA AND LEFT-OVER CI DEBRIS FROM PASSING SHORTWAVE ENERGY OVER ZONES 10 AND 12 WITH BEST INSTABILITY SITUATED OVER SW IDAHO/SE OREGON. DESPITE SOME MONSOONAL MOISTURE BEING CIRCULATED NORTH AROUND 50H SW US RIDGE INTO EAST ID COUPLED WITH MODEST CAPES AND 70H THETA RIDGE OVER AREA...CONVECTION HAS BEEN SLOW TO FIRE OVER EAST ID. AREA OF CONCERN IS CONVECTION FROM CENTRAL ID AND NEAR EKO ADVECTING E INTO SE IDAHO THE NEXT FEW HOURS AND COULD SEE SOME BETTER ACTIVITY LATE THIS AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING. 12Z ETA RUN PREFERRED IN MOVING THE 85H SHORTWAVE TROF THROUGH THE REGION LATER TONIGHT. WITH INVERTED V AIRMASS TSRA EXPECT COULD SEE SOME ISOLATED GUSTY DOWNBURST WINDS FOR THE REST OF THIS AFTERNOON. TONIGHT...ANY LEFT-OVER CONVECTION SHOULD END AFTER SUNSET AND ACCEPT PROGGED MOS MIN TEMPS GIVEN CURRENT DEWPOINT DEPRESSION TRENDS IN OBS. THU...ACCEPT IDEA OF 20% POPS ALL ZONES WITH SIMILAR ALIGNMENT OF 70H THETA E RIDGE AND MID-LEVEL MOISTURE OVER AREA. FRI...TEMPS TO WARM SLIGHTLY INTO MID 90S AS UPPER RIDGE SHARPENS SLIGHTLY. EXTENDED...00Z MRF SOLUTION FINALLY BRINGS IN A DEEP ENOUGH 50H PACIFIC TROF TO PUSH THE LARGE SW US ANTICYCLONE EAST INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS. THIS WILL BRING IN A COOLER PACIFIC AIRMASS FOR LATE WEEKEND TIMEFRAME WITH MAX TEMPS FALLING BACK INTO THE 80S. TA PIH BB 056/091 054/095 055 04221 IDA BB 051/090 052/T094 053 04221
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Aug 14, 3:54 PM MDT, 4 hours 5 minutes before
IDZ002-003-010-012-142300- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO/IDAHO FALLS ID 352 PM MDT WED AUG 14 1996 ...WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING ACROSS CENTRAL AND EAST IDAHO... AT 345 PM MDT...DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS INCREASING IN COVERAGE AND INTENSITY ACROSS CUSTER... BUTTE...AND CASSIA COUNTIES. OTHER SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE FORMING WEST OF BURLEY. THE PRECIPITATION WAS MOVING EAST AT ABOUT 20 MPH. THE STRONGEST STORMS WILL PASS SOUTH OF CHALLIS AND THROUGH MACKAY RANGER STATION BY ABOUT 415 PM MDT. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT TO STRONG GUSTY WINDS... DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...LOCALLY HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND POSSIBLY SOME SMALL HAIL. IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES...SEEK SAFE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. TA
The office that day
Everything else NWS Pocatello, ID issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 14, 6:04 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PIH | Lincoln | 41 min |
| Aug 14, 6:05 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PIH | Clark, Jefferson | 40 min |
| Aug 14, 6:35 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PIH | Minidoka | 40 min |
| Aug 14, 6:48 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PIH | Blaine, Power | 42 min |
| Aug 14, 7:12 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PIH | Bingham | 48 min |
| Aug 14, 7:41 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PIH | Bingham, Bonneville | 49 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Idaho, 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.