Alert archive / Nebraska / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 1, NWS Cheyenne, WY

April 4, 1997Laramie County, Wyoming; Banner County, Kimball County, Nebraska

NWS Cheyenne, WY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 4, 1997, 3:38 PM MST for Laramie County, Wyoming; Banner County, Kimball County, Nebraska. It was in force for 32 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: Apr 4, 1997, 3:38 PM MST (22:38 UTC)
Expired: Apr 4, 1997, 4:10 PM MST
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Cheyenne, WY
Area: Whole counties

Counties Banner County, NE, Kimball County, NE, Laramie County, WY

The radar

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 68 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:41 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
Apr 4, 3:45 PM MST	Tornado F1	Pine Bluffs Wyoming, 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

Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 178 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1229 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -13 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 59 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 KCYS 042239 RRA
SVRCYS
NEC007-105-WYC021-042310-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
338 PM MST FRI APR 4 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  NORTHEASTERN LARAMIE COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN WYOMING
  EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN BANNER COUNTY IN WESTERN NEBRASKA PANHANDLE
  EXTREME NORTHWESTERN KIMBALL COUNTY IN WESTERN NEBRASKA PANHANDLE

* UNTIL 410 PM MST

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  ALBIN                                BY 350 PM MST

* AT 334 PM MST...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY DOPPLER
  RADAR 17 MILES WEST OF KIMBALL OR 5 MILES EAST OF LINDBERGH MOVING
  NORTH AT 35 MPH.

  HAIL UP TO AN INCH DIAMETER MAY OCCUR WITH THIS STORM.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...MOVE INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING.  DO
NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DO NOT USE TELEPHONES OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES
UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD
NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.

JBS

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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 4, 10:05 AM MST, 5 hours 33 minutes before

WYZ059>070-NEZ001>003-019>021-054-055-050000-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
1005 AM MST FRI APR 4 1997

THE SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL IN SOUTHEAST WYOMING AND THE WESTERN
TWO-THIRDS OF THE NEBRASKA PANHANDLE IS LOW THIS AFTERNOON.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NECESSARY.

DISCUSSION...THE AIR MASS HAS BECOME MORE MOIST AND UNSTABLE OVERNIGHT
AND EARLY THIS MORNING.  A STRONG WEATHER SYSTEM DEVELOPING OVER THE
ROCKIES WILL CAUSE WIDESPREAD SHOWERS TO DEVELOP LATE THIS AFTERNOON
OVER THE AREA.  A FEW THUNDERSTORMS CAN ALSO BE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP...
BUT THESE WILL BE WEAK.

JLH

The office that day

Everything else NWS Cheyenne, WY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 4, 3:52 PM MST	Tornado Warning	CYS	Laramie	18 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Nebraska, 1997 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Wyoming, 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.