Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 10, NWS Missoula, MT

June 4, 1997Powell County, Montana

NWS Missoula, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 4, 1997, 5:21 PM MDT for Powell County, Montana. It was in force for 54 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
Jun 4, 1997, 5:21 PM MDT (23:21 UTC)
Expired
Jun 4, 1997, 6:15 PM MDT
In force
54 min
Issued by
NWS Missoula, MT
Area
Whole counties

County Powell County, MT

The radar

The Missoula radar (KMSX), 82 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:20 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
Jun 4, 5:40 PM MDTHail 1.25Garrison, MT

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

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 12:00Z, 11.4 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Great_falls, MT at 12:00Z on 1997-06-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1725 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, Great_falls, MT at 12:00Z on 1997-06-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 84 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
1725 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-119 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
899 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
118 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 Missoula, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jun 4, 1:56 PM MDT, 3 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 4, 1:56 PM MDT, 3 hours 25 minutes before
WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
145 PM MDT WED JUN 4 1997

MONTANA HYDRO...FLOOD WATCH MT ZN2-3...FLOOD WARNING MT ZN4>6.
IDAHO HYDRO...FLOOD WARNING SALMON RIVER IN LEMHI COUNTY. UPPER LOW
OFF B.C COAST MOVING LITTLE AS STRONG JET ON BACK SIDE OF TROUGH
DIGGING TROUGH FURTHER DOWN CALIFORNIA COAST. PREFER NGM INITIALLY
SINCE HAS BEST POSITION OF VORT MAX NORTHWEST OF SFO...WHICH MOVES
INTO OUR AREA THURSDAY AFTERNOON. IN THE INTERIM...RIGHT REAR QUAD OF
JET DEVELOPS STRONG OMEGA OVER CENTRAL IDAHO WHICH PUSHES NORTH INTO
NORTHWEST MONTANA OVERNIGHT. THE STRONG OMEGA MAINTAINS OVER NORTH
CENTRAL IDAHO WHICH SPELLS CONTINUAL SHOWERS. IT WILL BE INTERESTING
TO SEE IF DEVELOPING SURFACE LOW AS FORECAST BY NGM IN SOUTHEAST
OREGON PANS OUT. AFTER 30 HOURS ETA IS PREFERRED SINCE IT IS SLOWER
TO MOVE TROUGH THROUGH WHICH IS SIMILAR TO AVN...WHEREAS NGM TOO FAST
WITH TROUGH AND DRYING/CLEARING AREA OUT...NOTED BY TOO COLD LOW
TEMPS THURSDAY NIGHT. THURSDAY NIGHT INTO THE WEEKEND TROUGH BEGINS
TO BROADEN WITH SERIES OF WAVES PUSHES THROUGH AREA...DRIER FRIDAY
...THUS LOWER SCATTERED POPS. OTHERWISE JUST A CHANCE OF SHOWERS
AND/OR THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE WEEKEND.  BELTZ

...FORECASTS BELOW ARE PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE...
LIB .. 053/063 050/065 ... 277754
FCA WE 055/064 050/066 048 277754
POL .. 055/067 051/067 ... 277754
MSO WE 053/065 049/070 048 277754
HNMM .. 052/065 047/072 ... 277754
BTM .. 052/063 045/067 ... 277654
S80 .. 050/062 049/071 ... 278854
P69 .. 052/060 050/072 ... 279954
SMN .. 052/065 049/073 ... 277544

The office that day

Everything else NWS Missoula, MT issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 4, 5:38 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMSOPowell37 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Montana, 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.