Alert archive / Nebraska / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 229, NWS North Platte, NE

September 4, 1997Garden County, Grant County, Nebraska

NWS North Platte, NE issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 4, 1997, 6:01 PM MDT for Garden County, Grant County, Nebraska. It was in force for 49 min. 2 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
Sep 4, 1997, 6:01 PM MDT (00:01 UTC)
Expired
Sep 4, 1997, 6:50 PM MDT
In force
49 min
Issued by
NWS North Platte, NE
Area
Whole counties

Counties Garden County, NE, Grant County, NE

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 123 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:01 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Sep 4, 6:05 PM MDTHail 0.75Oshkosh, NEThunderstorm winds blew down large tree branches.
Sep 4, 6:10 PM MDTThunderstorm WindHyannis, NEThunderstorm winds blew down several large tree branches.

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

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 00:00Z, 0.0 hours before the alert went out and 139 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 1997-09-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 241 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 1997-09-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 54 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
241 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-245 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1565 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
54 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
79 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.

180 
WUUS1 KLBF 050002
SVRLBF
NEC069-075-050050-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
701 PM CDT (601 PM MDT) THU SEP 4 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTH PLATTE NE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 650 PM MDT (750 PM CDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN THE NEBRASKA PANHANDLE

   ...NORTHEASTERN GARDEN COUNTY

IN WEST CENTRAL NEBRASKA

   ...WESTERN GRANT COUNTY
 
AT 559 PM MDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY NORTH PLATTE
DOPPLER RADAR 43 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF ALLIANCE OR 14 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF ASHBY MOVING EAST AT 10 MPH.

THIS STORM IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN IN RURAL AREAS SOUTHWEST OF
ASHBY.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE STORM IN A
STRONG BUILDING.  DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN AND
DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.  STAY
INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

WOOD

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 North Platte, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Sep 4, 2:09 PM MDT, 3 hours 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 4, 2:09 PM MDT, 3 hours 52 minutes before
NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-042015-

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
307 PM CDT (207 PM MDT) THU SEP 4 1997

...TIMING...STRENGTH...AND LOCATION OF SHORTWAVES ALL MATTERS OF
CONCERN...

MODELS ALL DIFFERENT IN DEPICTION OF SHORTWAVES THAT WILL/MIGHT
MOVE ACROSS REGION NEXT 48 HOURS.  ETA SEEMS TO HAVE INITIALIZED
BEST...AT LEAST WITH SHORTWAVE MOVING THROUGH CO THIS
AFTERNOON...BUT HAVE DOUBTS ABOUT WHAT IT DOES WITH CONVECTION BY
36 HOURS.  INTERESTINGLY...THE AFOS GRAPHIC FOR 12 HOUR PRECIP
ENDING AT 36 HOURS INDICATES A MAX OF 0.14 INCHES...WHILE THE
GRIB DATA AS DISPLAYED IN PCGRIDDS INDICATES A MAX OF 0.76
INCHES.  LOCATIONS ARE VERY SIMILAR...BUT MAXES OBVIOUSLY DIFFER
BY A FACTOR OF ABOUT 5.  THIS ISNT CRITICAL TO THE
FORECAST...ITS JUST INTERESTING.

AGREE WITH AFDOMA ON HOW NEXT COUPLE DAYS WILL PLAY OUT.  WILL
NEED POPS IN EVENINGS AND NIGHTS WITH BOUNDARY LYING TO SOUTH OF
CWA AND WAA EXPECTED.  TIMING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE TO PINPOINT.
VERIFICATION PROGRAM SHOWS GUIDANCE MINS HAVE BEEN TOO COOL AND
MAXES TOO WARM LAST COUPLE DAYS DUE TO EXTENSIVE CLOUD
COVER...BUT WITH TROF PASSAGE WOULD ANTICIPATE CLOUD COVER IN LBF
CWA WILL NOT BE AS EXTENSIVE AS IN PAST FEW DAYS.

CCF:

LBF 59/86/60/87/60 1/1/2
VTN 57/86/56/88/59 2/1/2
OGA 56/87/56/87/55 2/1/2
ONL 58/86/59/87/58 2/1/2

SP

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 4, 8:35 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFCherry35 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.