Alert archive / Nebraska / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 48, NWS Cheyenne, WY

June 20, 1997Box Butte County, Nebraska

NWS Cheyenne, WY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 20, 1997, 5:20 PM MDT for Box Butte County, Nebraska. It was in force for 45 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
Jun 20, 1997, 5:20 PM MDT (23:20 UTC)
Expired
Jun 20, 1997, 6:05 PM MDT
In force
45 min
Issued by
NWS Cheyenne, WY
Area
Whole counties

County Box Butte County, NE

The radar

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 186 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:23 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 watch it was issued in

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

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Jun 20, 2:30 PM MDTTornado WatchSPC7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Rapid City, SD (KUNR), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 206 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, Rapid City, SD at 12:00Z on 1997-06-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Rapid City, SD at 12:00Z on 1997-06-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -7 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1334 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
70 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-7 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
187 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KCYS 202322 RRA
SVRCYS
NEC013-210005-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
520 PM MDT FRI JUN 20 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  NORTHERN BOX BUTTE COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN NEBRASKA PANHANDLE

* UNTIL 605 PM MDT

* SOME AFFECTED LOCATIONS INCLUDE
  BEREA 525 PM

* AT 517 PM MDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 16 MILES NORTHWEST
  ...OR 10 WEST OF BEREA.  MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 25 MPH.
Z
  A SECOND SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 12 NORTHEAST OF ALLIANCE.
  MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 25 MPH.

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT.  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE
TORNADOES. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM.  DO NOT GO OUTDOORS.

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, Jun 20, 2:29 PM MDT, 2 hours 51 minutes before
WYZ060-068-NEZ001>003-019>021-054-055-210300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
230 PM MDT FRI JUN 20 1997

A TORNADO WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE NEBRASKA PANHANDLE AND PARTS
OF SOUTHEAST WYOMING AND IS VALID UNTIL 9 PM.

COUNTIES IN THE PANHANDLE INCLUDE SIOUX...DAWES...BOX BUTTE...MORRILL
...CHEYENNE...SCOTTS BLUFF...BANNER AND KIMBALL.  SOME CITIES INCLUDED
IN THE WATCH ARE HARRISON...CHADRON...ALLIANCE...BRIDGEPORT...SIDNEY
...KIMBALL...HARRISBURG...AND SCOTTSBLUFF/GERING.

COUNTIES IN WYOMING INCLUDED IN THE WATCH ARE GOSHEN...AND SOUTHERN
NIOBRARA.  SOME CITIES AND TOWNS IN THE WATCH ARE LUSK...AND
TORRINGTON.

A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS IS IN PLACE OVER SOUTHEAST WYOMING AND THE
NEBRASKA PANHANDLE.  AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING THROUGH THE AREA
WILL RESULT IN SOME STRONG THUNDERSTORMS. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD
COULD PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND TORNADOES ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN.

PEOPLE IN THE WATCH AREA SHOULD BE ALERT TO APPROACHING STORMS AND
BE PREPARED TO SEEK SHELTER.  LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR
LOCAL TELEVISION AND RADIO STATIONS AS WELL AS YOUR CABLE TELEVISION
PROVIDER FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND WARNING.

WCJIN-WYNE-WYSE
LRE
Special weather statement, Jun 20, 2:30 PM MDT, 2 hours 50 minutes before
WYZ060-068-NEZ001>003-019>021-054-055-210300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
230 PM MDT FRI JUN 20 1997

A TORNADO WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE NEBRASKA PANHANDLE AND PARTS
OF SOUTHEAST WYOMING AND IS VALID UNTIL 9 PM.

COUNTIES IN THE PANHANDLE INCLUDE SIOUX...DAWES...BOX BUTTE...MORRILL
...CHEYENNE...SCOTTS BLUFF...BANNER AND KIMBALL.  SOME CITIES INCLUDED
IN THE WATCH ARE HARRISON...CHADRON...ALLIANCE...BRIDGEPORT...SIDNEY
...KIMBALL...HARRISBURG...AND SCOTTSBLUFF/GERING.

COUNTIES IN WYOMING INCLUDED IN THE WATCH ARE GOSHEN...AND SOUTHERN
NIOBRARA.  SOME CITIES AND TOWNS IN THE WATCH ARE LUSK...AND
TORRINGTON.

A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS IS IN PLACE OVER SOUTHEAST WYOMING AND THE
NEBRASKA PANHANDLE.  AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING THROUGH THE AREA
WILL RESULT IN SOME STRONG THUNDERSTORMS. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD
COULD PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND TORNADOES ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN.

PEOPLE IN THE WATCH AREA SHOULD BE ALERT TO APPROACHING STORMS AND
BE PREPARED TO SEEK SHELTER.  LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR
LOCAL TELEVISION AND RADIO STATIONS AS WELL AS YOUR CABLE TELEVISION
PROVIDER FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND WARNING.

WCJIN-WYNE-WYSE
LRE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 20, 2:32 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSBanner48 min
Jun 20, 2:47 PM MDTTornado WarningCYSBanner48 min
Jun 20, 3:18 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSDawes47 min
Jun 20, 3:27 PM MDTTornado WarningCYSKimball33 min
Jun 20, 3:33 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSBanner32 min
Jun 20, 3:39 PM MDTTornado WarningCYSBox Butte31 min
Jun 20, 4:02 PM MDTTornado WarningCYSCheyenne, Kimball48 min
Jun 20, 4:08 PM MDTTornado WarningCYSBox Butte17 min
Jun 20, 4:13 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSKimball47 min
Jun 20, 4:42 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSBox Butte33 min
Jun 20, 4:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSKimball45 min
Jun 20, 5:27 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSCheyenne, Kimball43 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Nebraska, 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.