Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 18, NWS Cheyenne, WY

June 20, 1997Cheyenne County, Kimball County, Nebraska

NWS Cheyenne, WY issued this tornado warning at Jun 20, 1997, 4:02 PM MDT for Cheyenne County, Kimball County, Nebraska. It was in force for 48 min. 7 reports 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 20, 1997, 4:02 PM MDT (22:02 UTC)
Expired: Jun 20, 1997, 4:50 PM MDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Cheyenne, WY
Area: Whole counties

Counties Cheyenne County, NE, Kimball County, NE

The radar

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 122 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:02 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 20, 4:16 PM MDT	Thunderstorm Wind 56	Potter, NE
Jun 20, 4:30 PM MDT	Hail 1.75	Gurley, NE
Jun 20, 4:30 PM MDT	Hail 1.75	Sidney, NE
Jun 20, 4:30 PM MDT	Hail 1	Sidney, NE
Jun 20, 4:43 PM MDT	Hail 1.75	Brownson, NE
Jun 20, 4:45 PM MDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Brownson, NE
Jun 20, 4:50 PM MDT	Hail 2.5	Sidney, NE	Several windshields broken and vehicles dented.

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 20, 2:30 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 149 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: 3898 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 65 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 202204 RRA
TORCYS
NEC033-105-202250-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
402 PM MDT FRI JUN 20 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  EASTERN KIMBALL COUNTY IN WESTERN NEBRASKA PANHANDLE
  WESTERN CHEYENNE COUNTY IN WESTERN NEBRASKA PANHANDLE

* UNTIL 450 PM MDT

* SOME AFFECTED LOCATIONS INCLUDE
  POTTER  

* AT 400 PM DOPPER WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 2
  MILES NORTH OF DIX. THIS THUNDERSTORM WALS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30
  MPH. THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO.
 
 
STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS...DOORS...AND OUTSIDE WALLS.  IN YOUR BASEMENT
AVOID CHIMNEYS AND BRICK WALLS.

LRE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 20, 2:32 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CYS	Banner	48 min
Jun 20, 2:47 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	CYS	Banner	48 min
Jun 20, 3:18 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CYS	Dawes	47 min
Jun 20, 3:27 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	CYS	Kimball	33 min
Jun 20, 3:33 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CYS	Banner	32 min
Jun 20, 3:39 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	CYS	Box Butte	31 min
Jun 20, 4:08 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	CYS	Box Butte	17 min
Jun 20, 4:13 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CYS	Kimball	47 min
Jun 20, 4:42 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CYS	Box Butte	33 min
Jun 20, 4:45 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CYS	Kimball	45 min
Jun 20, 5:20 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CYS	Box Butte	45 min
Jun 20, 5:27 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CYS	Cheyenne, Kimball	43 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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.