Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 27, NWS Missoula, MT

July 29, 1997Lincoln County, Montana

NWS Missoula, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 29, 1997, 5:49 PM MDT for Lincoln County, Montana. It was in force for 41 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
Jul 29, 1997, 5:49 PM MDT (23:49 UTC)
Expired
Jul 29, 1997, 6:30 PM MDT
In force
41 min
Issued by
NWS Missoula, MT
Area
Whole counties

County Lincoln County, MT

The radar

The Spokane radar (KOTX), 191 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:52 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

Spokane, WA (KOTX), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 119 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, Spokane, WA at 12:00Z on 1997-07-29Temperature 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, Spokane, WA at 12:00Z on 1997-07-29The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 56 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
2306 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
56 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
56 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 KMSO 292357 RRA
SVRMSO
MTC053-300030-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
549 PM MDT TUE JUL 29 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MISSOULA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHWEST MONTANA
 
   ...NORTHWESTERN LINCOLN COUNTY
 
AT 540 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM OVER TROY
IN NORTHWEST LINCOLN COUNTY. THIS STORM WAS MOVING TO THE WEST
NORTHWEST AT 15 MPH. LOOK FOR WIND GUSTS BETWEEN 50 TO 60 MPH
WITH THIS STORM AND HEAVY RAIN UP TO ONE INCH OVER THE NEXT HOUR.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER 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.

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 Jul 29, 1:49 PM MDT, 4 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 29, 1:49 PM MDT, 4 hours before
WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
145 PM MDT TUE JUL 29 1997
COMPLEX WX PATTERN AND MODELS DO NOT SEEM TO HAVE A GOOD HANDLE ON
IT.  SHORT WAVE INTO W CNTRL MT WITH DRY AIR MOVING IN BEHIND. TWO
APPARENT WAVES SE OR.  MOISTURE OVER NRN CA STILL MOVING NORTH AND
EAST. BELIEVE THIS WILL EVENTUALLY GET PICKED UP IN WESTERLY FLOW AND
MOVE THROUGH NW MT BUT TIMING IS TRICKY. MOISTURE OVER MT MUCH
FURTHER NORTH THAN ETA RH FIELD AND HAVE NOT OBSERVED THE QPFS
ADVERTISED. SHWRS AND TS DEVELOPING OVER AREA BUT NOTHING TOO
EXCITING SO FAR.  SO...LOOKING FOR SCATTERED CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY THIS
AFTERNOON TAPERING OFF FROM THE SOUTH WITH SHORTWAVE MOVING THROUGH
NORTHWEST LATE TONIGHT/EARLY WED AM. STRONG FOUR CORNERS HIGH
DEVELOPING THURSDAY AND SHOULD KEEP MOST PRECIP NORTH OF AREA IN
EXTENDED PERIOD.  TEMPS A LITTLE COOLER WED THEN WARMING AGAIN
THURSDAY AS CLOUDS CLEAR AND AIRMASS DRIES.  HOADLEY

...FORECASTS BELOW ARE PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE...

LIB .. 060/085 055/088 ... 405321
FCA EE 058/083 053/086 051 405321
POL .. 059/081 054/083 ... 404311
MSO EE 057/085 052/088 052 404311
HMM .. 057/085 052/088 ... 4004311
BTM .. 049/082 047/087 ... 403221
S80 .. 059/083 054/086 ... 405321
P69 .. 061/085 057/088 ... 403221
SMN .. 047/087 054/090 ... 403221

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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.