Alert archive / Montana / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Great Falls, MT

June 7, 19974 counties in Montana

NWS Great Falls, MT issued this flash flood warning at Jun 7, 1997, 9:30 PM MDT for 4 counties in Montana. It was in force for 6 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jun 7, 1997, 9:30 PM MDT (03:30 UTC)
Expired: Jun 8, 1997, 3:00 AM MDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: NWS Great Falls, MT
Area: Whole counties

Counties Cascade County, MT, Chouteau County, MT, Fergus County, MT, Judith Basin County, MT

The radar

The Great Falls radar (KTFX), 81 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:30 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

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 00:00Z, 3.5 hours before the alert went out and 23 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: 3 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -86 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1721 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 145 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.

000 
TTAA00 KGTF 080329
FFWGTF
MTC015-027-045-013-059-080900-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLOOD WARNING...UPDATED TO INCLUDE ADDITIONAL COUNTIES
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
930 PM MDT SAT JUN 7 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS HAS ISSUED A
FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  300 AM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN CENTRAL MONTANA
 
   ...NORTHWESTERN JUDITH BASIN COUNTY
   ...SOUTHEASTERN CASCADE COUNTY
   ...NORTHERN MEAGHER COUNTY
   ...SOUTHEASTERN CHOUTEAU COUNTY
   ...NORTHWESTERN FERGUS COUNTY
 
HEAVY RAIN HAS OCCURRED THIS EVENING IN AN AREA FROM NORTH OF WHITE
SULPHUR SPRINGS IN MEAGHER COUNTY...THROUGH MONARCH...IN CASCADE
COUNTY...TO NORTH OF DENTON...IN FERGUS COUNTY.  THIS RAIN
HAS FALLEN IN AN AREA IN WHICH HEAVY AMOUNTS WERE RECORDED FRIDAY
EVENING.
 
RAINFALL AMOUNTS FROM 1.5 TO OVER 3 INCHES WERE REPORTED IN THESE AREAS
LAST EVENING WITH SOME LOCAL FLOODING.  WEATHER OBSERVERS HAVE REPORTED
1.5 TO NEARLY 3 INCHES IN THE SAME AREA THIS EVENING.  FURTHER STREAMS
HAVE BEEN REPORTED NEAR BANKFUL FROM NORTHERN MEAGHER THROUGH WESTERN
FERGUS COUNTY.  WATER WAS ALSO REPORTED OVER RUNNING OVER ROUTE 80/81
NORTH OF STANFORD.
 
A LARGE AREA OF RAIN EXTENDS ACROSS THE WARNING AREA...AND TO THE SOUTH.
RAIN WILL CONTINUE IN CENTRAL MONTANA AS SHOWERS OVER SOUTHWEST MONTANA
...AND WESTERN WYOMING AND IDAHO CONTINUE TO MOVE INTO THIS AREA.
 
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE
THE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS.  MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS.
DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Great Falls, MT issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 7, 6:56 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Fergus, Judith Basin	64 min
Jun 7, 9:00 PM MDT	Flash Flood Warning	TFX	Cascade, Judith Basin, Meagher	6 hr
Jun 7, 9:30 PM MDT	Flash Flood Warning	TFX	Meagher	6 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Montana, 1997 Every flash flood 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.