Alert archive / Idaho / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 13, NWS Spokane, WA

May 31, 1997Latah County, Nez Perce County, Idaho

NWS Spokane, WA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1997, 2:46 PM PDT for Latah County, Nez Perce County, Idaho. It was in force for 29 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: May 31, 1997, 2:46 PM PDT (21:46 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1997, 3:15 PM PDT
In force: 29 min
Issued by: NWS Spokane, WA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Latah County, ID, Nez Perce County, ID

The radar

The Spokane radar (KOTX), 141 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:50 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 31, 12:45 PM PDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Spokane, WA (KOTX), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 128 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: 11 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -225 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1213 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 146 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.

607 
WUUS1 KGEG 312151 RRA
SVRGEG
IDC057-061-069-312215-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQ
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WA
246 PM PDT SAT MAY 31 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SPOKANE HAS CONTINUED THE
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  315 PM PDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTH IDAHO
 
   ...LATAH COUNTY...LEWIS COUNTY...NEZ PERCE COUNTY
 
AT 245 PM PDT A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORM EXTENDED FROM COEUR D ALENE
IDAHO TO JUST WEST OF ST MARIES TO EASTERN LATAH COUNTY AND SOUTHERN NEZ
PERCE COUNTY. THIS LINE WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 30 MPH AND WILL
CONTINUE TO PRODUCE LARGE HAIL...BRIEF VERY HEAVY RAINFALL AND STRONG
GUSTY WINDS TO NEAR 60 MPH.
 
MOST DEATHS IN FLASH FLOODING OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS
THE ROADWAY.  NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A
SMALL ONE...ON FOOT.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Spokane, WA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 1:39 PM PDT	Flash Flood Warning	OTX	Latah, Nez Perce	66 min
May 31, 1:39 PM PDT	Flash Flood Warning	OTX	Lewis	66 min
May 31, 1:39 PM PDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OTX	Latah, Nez Perce	66 min
May 31, 1:39 PM PDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OTX	Lewis	66 min
May 31, 1:53 PM PDT	Flash Flood Warning	OTX	Bonner, Kootenai	67 min
May 31, 1:53 PM PDT	Flash Flood Warning	OTX	Benewah	67 min
May 31, 1:53 PM PDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OTX	Bonner	67 min
May 31, 1:53 PM PDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OTX	Benewah, Kootenai	67 min
May 31, 2:29 PM PDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OTX	Shoshone	61 min
May 31, 2:46 PM PDT	Flash Flood Warning	OTX	Latah, Nez Perce	29 min
May 31, 2:46 PM PDT	Flash Flood Warning	OTX	Lewis	29 min
May 31, 2:46 PM PDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OTX	Lewis	29 min
May 31, 3:08 PM PDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OTX	Bonner, Boundary	52 min
May 31, 3:20 PM PDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OTX	Nez Perce	25 min
May 31, 3:25 PM PDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OTX	Shoshone	50 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Idaho, 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.