Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 481

June 19, 199733 counties in Nebraska; 6 counties in South Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 19, 1997, 6:30 PM CDT for 33 counties in Nebraska; 6 counties in South Dakota. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 19, 1997, 6:30 PM CDT (23:30 UTC)
Expired: Jun 20, 1997, 12:00 AM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 39 counties

Antelope County, NE, Blaine County, NE, Boone County, NE, Boyd County, NE, Brown County, NE, Butler County, NE, Cedar County, NE, Cherry County, NE, Colfax County, NE, Cuming County, NE, Custer County, NE, Dakota County, NE, Dixon County, NE, Dodge County, NE, Garfield County, NE, Greeley County, NE, Holt County, NE, Keya Paha County, NE, Knox County, NE, Logan County, NE, Loup County, NE, Madison County, NE, Nance County, NE, Pierce County, NE, Platte County, NE, Rock County, NE, Saunders County, NE, Stanton County, NE, Thomas County, NE, Thurston County, NE, Valley County, NE, Wayne County, NE, Wheeler County, NE, Bon Homme County, SD, Clay County, SD, Gregory County, SD, Todd County, SD, Union County, SD, Yankton County, SD

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 123 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:34 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.

Warnings issued inside it

7 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 19, 7:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Brown, Rock	62 min
Jun 19, 8:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Holt	65 min
Jun 19, 8:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Antelope	48 min
Jun 19, 9:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Madison, Pierce	63 min
Jun 19, 9:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Stanton, Wayne	65 min
Jun 19, 10:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Cuming	49 min
Jun 19, 10:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Burt, Dodge	49 min

The nearest sounding before it

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 185 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: 2093 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 68 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 49 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.

944 
WWUS9 KMKC 192257
SEL1  
MKC WW 192257
NEZ000-SDZ000-200500-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 481
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
557 PM CDT THU JUN 19 1997

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST NEBRASKA                           
   EXTREME SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA               
       
EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY MORNING FROM 630 PM UNTIL
MIDNIGHT CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 65 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 20 MILES NORTH OF MULLEN NEBRASKA TO 50 MILES
EAST NORTHEAST OF NORFOLK NEBRASKA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 478...WW 479...WW 480...

DISCUSSION...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING EASTWARD INTO NORTH
CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND ARE LIKELY TO SPREAD INTO NORTHEAST NEBRASKA
AND EXTREME SOUTHERN SOUTH DAKOTA THIS EVENING.  STORMS ARE
PROPAGATING ALONG EAST/WEST BOUNDARY OVER NORTHERN NEBRASKA ALONG
SOUTHERN EDGE OF STRONG WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT.  MODERATE INSTABILITY
AND FAVORABLE VERTICAL SHEAR SUGGESTS POTENTIAL FOR SUPERCELLS TO
DEVELOP.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 27035.


...WEISS

431,1010 430,0962 411,0962 412,1010

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 19, 3:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Arthur, Banner, Box Butte, Chase, Cheyenne, Dawes and 18 more	7 hr
Jun 18, 7:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Butte, Custer, Fall River, Harding, Lawrence, Meade and 3 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 1997 Tornado Watches in South Dakota, 1997 Every tornado watch 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.