Alert archive / Idaho / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Pocatello, ID

May 31, 1997Jefferson County, Idaho

NWS Pocatello, ID issued this tornado warning at May 31, 1997, 5:02 PM MDT for Jefferson County, Idaho. It was in force for 28 min. 2 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 31, 1997, 5:02 PM MDT (23:02 UTC)
Expired
May 31, 1997, 5:30 PM MDT
In force
28 min
Issued by
NWS Pocatello, ID
Area
Whole counties

County Jefferson County, ID

The radar

The Pocatello radar (KSFX), 85 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:03 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
May 31, 5:05 PM MDTTornado F1Terreton, IDA F1 Tornado touch down about one mile west of Mud Lake demolishing a shed, damaging a quanset hut, lifting a roof off another shed, and rolling over an irrigation circle line. The tornado moved east toward Mud Lake knocking down trees, large branches and two
May 31, 5:12 PM MDTHail 1.5Terreton, IDHail associated with Terreton tornadic storm

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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 31, 2:30 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Boise Airport, ID (KBOI), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 314 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, Boise Airport, ID at 12:00Z on 1997-05-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 347 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, Boise Airport, ID at 12:00Z on 1997-05-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 230 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
347 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-231 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2502 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
230 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
257 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

051 
WFUS1 KPIH 312305 RRA
TORPIH
IDC051-312330-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE POCATELLO ID
502 PM MDT SAT MAY 31 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN POCATELLO HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  530 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION......
 
IN SOUTHEAST IDAHO
 
   ...WEST CENTRAL JEFFERSON COUNTY
 
AT 500 PM MDT DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A POSSIBLE TORNADO IMMEDIATELY WEST
OF MUD LAKE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. A FUNNEL CLOUD WAS CONFIRMED AT
500 PM BY SPOTTERS. THIS POSSIBLE TORNADO WILL PASS NEAR TERRETON BY 515
PM.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR
ROOM AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Pocatello, ID issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 31, 2:26 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHCuster49 min
May 31, 2:39 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHBlaine51 min
May 31, 2:44 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHMinidoka46 min
May 31, 3:20 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHCuster40 min
May 31, 3:28 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHBlaine32 min
May 31, 3:42 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHBingham, Power48 min
May 31, 3:49 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHButte26 min
May 31, 3:53 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHCassia37 min
May 31, 4:05 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHBannock, Bingham40 min
May 31, 4:14 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHPower31 min
May 31, 4:19 PM MDTTornado WarningPIHButte26 min
May 31, 4:38 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHBingham37 min
May 31, 4:42 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHCassia33 min
May 31, 4:52 PM MDTTornado WarningPIHBannock, Bingham38 min
May 31, 5:09 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHBingham36 min
May 31, 5:21 PM MDTTornado WarningPIHBannock39 min
May 31, 5:26 PM MDTTornado WarningPIHJefferson19 min
May 31, 5:35 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHOneida25 min
May 31, 5:38 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHCassia37 min
May 31, 5:48 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPIHCaribou27 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Idaho, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.