Alert archive / Idaho / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 13, NWS Boise, ID

May 16, 1997Adams County, Idaho

NWS Boise, ID issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 16, 1997, 5:33 PM MDT for Adams County, Idaho. It was in force for 57 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, 1997, 5:33 PM MDT (23:33 UTC)
Expired
May 16, 1997, 6:30 PM MDT
In force
57 min
Issued by
NWS Boise, ID
Area
Whole counties

County Adams County, ID

The radar

The Boise radar (KCBX), 157 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:34 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, 6:30 PM MDTHail 0.75Council, IDA severe thunderstorm formed over the Central Mountains and produced 3/4 inch hail .

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

Boise Airport, ID (KBOI), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 148 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, Boise Airport, ID at 12:00Z on 1997-05-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 35 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, Boise Airport, ID at 12:00Z on 1997-05-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -6 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
35 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-346 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2262 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
6 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.

494 
WUUS1 KBOI 162335 RRA
SVRBOI
IDC003-170030-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE ID
533 PM MDT FRI MAY 16 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BOISE ID HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST CENTRAL IDAHO
 
   ...NORTHERN ADAMS COUNTY
 
AT 530 PM A WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CONTAINING
LARGE HAIL IN PROGRESS ABOUT 30 MILES NORTHWEST OF COUNCIL.
 
THE STORM WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE CENTER OF ADAMS COUNTY
AND MAY PASS AS CLOSE AS TEN MILES TO THE WEST OF NEW MEADOWS BY 600 PM
MDT.
 
THE WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTED HAIL ESTIMATED ABOUT 3/4 INCH IN DIAMETER.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A
STRONG BUILDING.  DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...
AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.
STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.
 
 
 
&

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 6:33 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOIOwyhee42 min
May 15, 7:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOIOwyhee45 min
May 15, 8:03 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOIAda, Canyon, Owyhee42 min
May 15, 8:46 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOIAda, Owyhee59 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Idaho, 1997Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1997

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.