Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 17, NWS Hastings, NE

August 3, 1997Adams County, Nebraska

NWS Hastings, NE issued this tornado warning at Aug 3, 1997, 7:52 PM CDT for Adams County, Nebraska. It was in force for 38 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: Aug 3, 1997, 7:52 PM CDT (00:52 UTC)
Expired: Aug 3, 1997, 8:30 PM CDT
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Hastings, NE
Area: Whole counties

County Adams County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 23 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:56 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 nearest sounding before it

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 00:00Z, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 189 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: 1182 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -31 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2093 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 5 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGRI 040052 RRA
TORGRI
NEC001-040130-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
752 PM CDT SUN AUG 3 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS NE  HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  830 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA
 
   ...EASTERN ADAMS COUNTY
 
...PERSONS IN HASTINGS SHOUILD GET INTO THEIR TORNADO SHELTERS NOW...
 
RADAR HAS INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 2 MILES NORTH OF HASTINGS MOVING
TO THE SOUTH AT 10 TO 15 MPH.
 
ABANDON VEHICLES AND MOBILE HOMES.  GO TO A REINFORCED SHELTER OR
HIDE IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD.
 
PURDY/GRIFFITH

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Aug 3, 2:20 PM CDT, 5 hours 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 3, 2:20 PM CDT, 5 hours 32 minutes before

CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
220 PM CDT SUN AUG 3 1997

MAIN QUESTION TDA IS IF/WHEN/WHERE CONVN WL FORM.

SFC ANLYS LOCATES PERSISTENT WK SFC TROF OMA-SLN-AMA WTH SFC MSTR
POOLED OVR SE 1/2 OF NEB AND MOST OF IA & KS.  WK SLO MOVG CD FNT
LAY ON A ORD-FSD-DIK LN.  XTRMLY UNSTBL AMS IN PLACE WTH ADAP
SHOWING LIS OF -10 AND MODIFIED LBF SOUNDING INDICATING CAPE OF
4000.

SATL SHOWS CU FIELD A BIT MORE ORGANIZED ACRS GID CWA THAN YDA
AND A LOOK OUT THE WINDOW CONFIRMS A BIT MORE VERTICAL DVLPMT
AS WELL.  AC FIELD OVR NEB PNHNDL MAY BE A REFLECTION OF A
WEAK S/W BT CAN/T FIND IT IN PROFILER DATA.

MSTR AND INSTABILITY IN PLACE...BT NO FOCUSING MECHANISM.
MDLS SHOW ONLY SGFNT UPR LVL FEATURES AS SYS CROSSING IA/IL
NOW AND S/W ROUNDING UPR RDG OVR WY AND NRN CO MON NGT & TUES.
SFC FNT SCHEDULED TO DROP ACRS NEB LT TNGT AND TMRW BT WK
CONVERGENCE UNLIKELY TO YIELD WDSPRD CONVN.

WL FOCUS CHC FOR CONVN ALG FNTL CONVERGENCE WTH SOME BOOST
PSBL FROM NEB PNHDL S/W TNGT THRUT CWA.  NGM LOCN OF BK DOOR
FNT LOOKS RSNBL AND APRS ANY CONVN MON AFTN WL BE W OF GRI & HSI.

HARD TO MEASURE COOLING WTH FNT BT STRENGTH OF SFC HI WOULD
SUPPORT FWC TEMPS.

GRI BB 069/089/064/085 2111
ODX BB 067/087/062/084 2111
LXN BB 064/092/062/085 2211
HBR BB 069/089/065/086 2111
BEL BB 071/092/067/087 2211

SCHURR

The office that day

Everything else NWS Hastings, NE issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 3, 7:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Hall, Hamilton	49 min
Aug 3, 7:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Adams, Clay	54 min
Aug 3, 8:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Adams, Hall	45 min
Aug 4, 5:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Hall	58 min
Aug 4, 5:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Adams	52 min
Aug 4, 5:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Howard	47 min
Aug 4, 6:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Buffalo, Hall	38 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.