Alert archive / Utah / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 116, NWS Salt Lake City, UT

September 20, 1997San Juan County, Utah

NWS Salt Lake City, UT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 20, 1997, 4:43 PM MDT for San Juan County, Utah. 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 20, 1997, 4:43 PM MDT (22:43 UTC)
Expired
Sep 20, 1997, 5:45 PM MDT
In force
62 min
Issued by
NWS Salt Lake City, UT
Area
Whole counties

County San Juan County, UT

The radar

The Grand Junction radar (KGJX), 212 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:47 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

Grand Junction, CO (KGJT), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 202 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, Grand Junction, CO at 12:00Z on 1997-09-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 197 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, Grand Junction, CO at 12:00Z on 1997-09-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 121 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
197 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-94 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
696 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
64 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
121 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
209 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
1.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSLC 202245 RRA
SVRSLC
UTC037-202345-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
443 PM MDT SAT SEP 20 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SALT LAKE CITY UT HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 545 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN UTAH

   ...NORTHERN SAN JUAN COUNTY
 
AT 439 PM MDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY DOPPLER
RADAR 31 MILES NORTHWEST OF MONTICELLO OR 25 MILES WEST OF LA SAL
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.  HEAVY RAINFALL...FREQUENT
LIGHTNING...LARGE HAIL...AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS IN EXCESS OF 57 MPH
ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.

THIS STORM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE OVER THE CANYONLANDS NATIONAL
PARK AREA WITHIN THE NEXT HOUR.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DO NOT USE TELEPHONES OR
ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM HAS
PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.

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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 20, 1:50 PM MDT, 2 hours 53 minutes before
UTZ009>013-018-021>027-210100-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
150 PM MDT SAT SEP 20 1997

...CONDITIONS FAVORABLE FOR LARGE HAIL AND MICROBURST WINDS WITH
   THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING IN EASTERN UTAH...

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO DEVELOP OVER EASTERN UTAH THIS
AFTERNOON AND ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING.  CONDITIONS
ARE FAVORABLE FOR SOME OF THESE STORMS TO BE ACCOMPANIED BY STRONG
GUSTY WINDS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...AND LARGE HAIL.  WIND GUSTS IN
EXCESS OF 50 MPH OR MORE AND LARGE HAIL IN EXCESS OF 1 1/2 INCHES ARE
POSSIBLE.

IF YOU ARE PLANNING OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES SUCH AS PICNICKING OR CAMPING,
BE ALERT FOR RAPIDLY DETERIORATING WEATHER CONDITIONS.  PEOPLE SHOULD
BE ALERT FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF THESE STRONG WINDS AND LARGE HAIL.
TAKE PRECAUTIONS TO TIE DOWN LOOSE OBJECTS THAT CAN BECOME AIRBORNE
IN STRONG THUNDERSTORM WINDS OR BRING THEM INDOORS.  BOATERS SHOULD
WATCH THE WEATHER CLOSELY AND MOVE TO SAFE HARBOR IF THUNDERSTORMS
THREATEN AS STRONG WINDS COULD CAUSE VERY ROUGH WATER.

JN...1950Z
Special weather statement, Sep 20, 1:53 PM MDT, 2 hours 50 minutes before
UTZ009>013-018-021>027-210100-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
150 PM MDT SAT SEP 20 1997

...CONDITIONS FAVORABLE FOR LARGE HAIL AND MICROBURST WINDS WITH
   THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING IN EASTERN UTAH...

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO DEVELOP OVER EASTERN UTAH THIS
AFTERNOON AND ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING.  CONDITIONS
ARE FAVORABLE FOR SOME OF THESE STORMS TO BE ACCOMPANIED BY STRONG
GUSTY WINDS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...AND LARGE HAIL.  WIND GUSTS IN
EXCESS OF 50 MPH OR MORE AND LARGE HAIL IN EXCESS OF 1 1/2 INCHES ARE
POSSIBLE.

IF YOU ARE PLANNING OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES SUCH AS PICNICKING OR CAMPING,
BE ALERT FOR RAPIDLY DETERIORATING WEATHER CONDITIONS.  PEOPLE SHOULD
BE ALERT FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF THESE STRONG WINDS AND LARGE HAIL.
TAKE PRECAUTIONS TO TIE DOWN LOOSE OBJECTS THAT CAN BECOME AIRBORNE
IN STRONG THUNDERSTORM WINDS OR BRING THEM INDOORS.  BOATVERS SHOULD
WATCH THE WEATHER CLOSELY AND MOVE TO SAFE HARBOR IF THUNDERSTORMS
THREATEN AS STRONG WINDS COULD CAUSE VERY ROUGH WATER.

JN...1950Z

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Utah, 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.