Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 63, NWS Missoula, MT

September 5, 1997Flathead County, Montana

NWS Missoula, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 5, 1997, 7:13 PM MDT for Flathead County, Montana. It was in force for 62 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: Sep 5, 1997, 7:13 PM MDT (01:13 UTC)
Expired: Sep 5, 1997, 8:15 PM MDT
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Missoula, MT
Area: Whole counties

County Flathead County, MT

The radar

The Missoula radar (KMSX), 140 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:14 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 00:00Z, 1.2 hours before the alert went out and 187 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: 1018 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1883 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 35 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 124 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMSO 060115 RRA
SVRMSO
MTC029-060215-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
713 PM MDT FRI SEP 5 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MISSOULA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  815 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHWEST MONTANA
 
   ...WEST CENTRAL FLATHEAD COUNTY
 
AT 7PM MDT A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED OVER MARION MONTANA IN
WESTERN FLATHEAD COUNTY.  THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.
THIS STORM MAY PRODUCE ONE INCH DIAMETER HAIL...GUSTY WINDS TO 60MPH
AND HEAVY RAIN. THE STORM WILL APPROACH GLACIER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
BY 745PM MDT
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

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 Sep 5, 1:45 PM MDT, 5 hours 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 5, 1:45 PM MDT, 5 hours 28 minutes before

WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
145 PM MDT FRI SEP 5 1997

MODELS INITIALIZED POORLY WITH ONLY THE ETA HINTING AT THE VORTS TO
THE SOUTH...ONE IN SOUTH CENTRAL OR AND THE OTHER OVER SOUTHERN ID.
BOTH VORTS TRACKING TO THE NORTHEAST ATTM. BASED FCST ON ETA BECAUSE
OF VORT POSITIONS AND ITS MOISTURE PROG SEEMS THE MORE REASONABLE.
PANHANDLE/NW AND WEST CENTRAL MT FAVORED AREAS FOR SIG WX THIS
AFTERNOON/EVENING GIVEN CAPE...LIS AND CON/DIV COUPLET. HOWEVER...
ID VORT SEEMS THE MORE ACTIVE AS SOME CONVECTION FIRING OVER SOUTH
CENTRAL ID ATTM. UPPER LEVEL DISCONTINUITY SEEN ON WV PICS MOVING
THRU EASTERN WA. EXPECT THIS FEATURE AND SURFACE TROF TO BE EDVD
AFTER MIDNIGHT. ACTIVITY TODAY SHOULD BE HIGH BASED WITH GUSTY WINDS
ACCOMPANYING TSTMS. ANALYSIS PAST 24 HRS SHOWS WEST COAST H5 TROF
FILLING AS ADVERTISED BY LAST SEVERAL MODEL RUNS. TROF ROTATES INTO
SASK WITH SHORTWAVE RIDGING OVER NORTHERN ROCKIES SATURDAY
NIGHT/SUNDAY. SW FLOW ALOFT INCREASING ON SUNDAY AHEAD OF NEXT TROF.
AVN HINTING AT S/WV MOVING INTO SW MT BY AFTERNOON. FOSS

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

LIB .. 050/072 042/072 ... 315211
FCA EB 048/072 042/072 043 314211
POL .. 054/075 050/075 ... 313101
MSO BA 050/077 045/077 043 314102
HMM .. 048/079 042/079 ... 313102
BTM .. 046/075 042/078 ... 313202
S80 .. 049/075 054/078 ... 313101
P69 .. 052/077 054/080 ... 314101
SMN .. 047/075 044/080 ... 313102

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 5, 6:37 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MSO	Mineral, Missoula	68 min
Sep 5, 8:02 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MSO	Missoula, Powell	58 min
Sep 5, 8:02 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MSO	Lincoln	58 min
Sep 6, 6:48 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MSO	Missoula	27 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Montana, 1997 Every 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.