Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 73, NWS Billings, MT

June 29, 1997Custer County, Powder River County, Montana

NWS Billings, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 29, 1997, 7:40 PM MDT for Custer County, Powder River County, Montana. It was in force for 60 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: Jun 29, 1997, 7:40 PM MDT (01:40 UTC)
Expired: Jun 29, 1997, 8:40 PM MDT
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Billings, MT
Area: Whole counties

Counties Custer County, MT, Powder River County, MT

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 233 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:42 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
Jun 29, 8:30 PM MDT	Thunderstorm Wind 57	Volborg, MT

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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jun 29, 7:15 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Glasgow Intl Airport, MT (KGGW), launched 00:00Z, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 277 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: 552 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2316 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 47 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 171 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.9

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 Billings, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jun 29, 2:00 PM MDT, 5 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 29, 2:00 PM MDT, 5 hours 40 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
200 PM MDT SUN JUN 29 1997

ALREADY TALKED TO SPC ABOUT SEVERE POTENTIAL. UPPER LEVEL DIFLUENCE
VISIBLE ON THE WATER VAPOR PLACED OVER THE COUNTY WARNING AREA. JET
STREAK HEADED UP TOWARD SOUTHWEST MONTANA. ATMOSPHERE HAS DESTABILIZED
NICELY. DIRECTIONAL SHEAR NOT THAT STRONG BUT IN PLACE. WILL MENTION
SEVERE IN ZONES FIRST PERIOD. UPPER TROUGH THEN SHIFTS NORTHEAST
THROUGH TUESDAY. STRONG VORT MAXES EMBEDDED IN THE FLOW WITH CONTINUED
UPPER LEVEL DIFLUENCE WILL ALLOW FOR MORE CONVECTION MONDAY...POSSIBLY
SEVERE AGAIN. THICKNESSES CRASH TUESDAY AS BASE ON UPPER TROUGH GETS
PLACED OVER CENTRAL WYOMING FOR A COOLER DAY. WITH DYNAMICS...WILL
INCLUDE THUNDER. DONT THINK TROPICAL CONNECTION HAS ENOUGH TIME TO
GET PULLED INTO THE MIX...BUT STILL WILL BE A WET FORECAST. ALL THIS
CONSIDERED FOR SCATTERED TO LIKELY POPS THROUGH THE PERIOD. HUMPHREY

BIL TT 053/079 053/068 048 556466
LVM .. 047/072 048/064 ... 556666
HDN .. 051/080 051/069 ... 556466
MLS .. 059/082 057/069 ... 556466
4BQ .. 057/080 055/069 ... 554446
BHK .. 056/080 054/067 ... 554446
SHR TT 049/081 049/068 044 554444

The office that day

Everything else NWS Billings, MT issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 29, 6:09 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BYZ	Treasure	61 min
Jun 29, 6:16 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Yellowstone	64 min
Jun 29, 6:25 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Big Horn	65 min
Jun 29, 6:39 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Rosebud	61 min
Jun 29, 6:47 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Treasure	63 min
Jun 29, 6:51 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Stillwater, Yellowstone	64 min
Jun 29, 7:19 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Musselshell	61 min
Jun 29, 7:52 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BYZ	Custer, Rosebud	48 min
Jun 29, 8:11 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Custer, Powder River	59 min
Jun 29, 9:08 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Carter, Custer, Fallon	62 min
Jun 29, 11:00 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Powder River	60 min
Jun 29, 11:24 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Powder River	61 min
Jun 29, 11:55 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Carter	60 min
Jun 30, 12:56 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Carter	44 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Montana, 1997 Every 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.