Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Omaha, NE

May 7, 1997Lancaster County, Nebraska

NWS Omaha, NE issued this tornado warning at May 7, 1997, 4:13 PM CDT for Lancaster County, Nebraska. It was in force for 47 min. 4 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: May 7, 1997, 4:13 PM CDT (21:13 UTC)
Expired: May 7, 1997, 5:00 PM CDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Omaha, NE
Area: Whole counties

County Lancaster County, NE

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:16 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

Time	Report	Where
May 7, 4:17 PM CDT	Hail 1.5	Sprague, NE
May 7, 4:20 PM CDT	Hail 1	Hickman, NE
May 7, 4:20 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Princeton, NE
May 7, 4:31 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Firth, NE

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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 7, 2:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 9.2 hours before the alert went out and 65 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 963 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 155 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 202 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 5.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KOMA 072114 RRA
TOROMA
NEC109-072200-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
413 PM CDT WED MAY 7 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  SOUTHERN LANCASTER COUNTY - IN SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA

* UNTIL 500 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  PRINCETON                    BY AROUND 414 PM CDT
  HICKMAN                      BY AROUND 415 PM CDT
  ROCA                         BY AROUND 415 PM CDT
  PANAMA                       BY AROUND 430 PM CDT
  BENNETT                      BY AROUND 435 PM CDT

* AT 412 PM CDT...A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY DOPPLER RADAR AND
  SPOTTER REPORTS 13 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF LINCOLN OR 2 MILES WEST
  NORTHWEST OF HICKMAN MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

THIS TORNADO WARNING REPLACES THE PREVIOUS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WARNING ISSUED AT 409 PM.
 
PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO SHOULD TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY TO
SAVE YOUR LIVES.  MOVE TO A STURDY BUILDING...A BASEMENT IF POSSIBLE
COVER YOUR HEAD FROM FLYING DEBRIS.

GW

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 7, 4:49 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Wayne	46 min
May 7, 3:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Douglas	64 min
May 7, 3:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Sarpy	47 min
May 7, 4:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Gage, Pawnee	61 min
May 7, 4:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Nemaha	49 min
May 7, 4:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Lancaster	66 min
May 7, 4:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Gage	39 min
May 7, 4:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Richardson	61 min
May 7, 4:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Johnson, Otoe	65 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.