Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 18, NWS Great Falls, MT

June 6, 1997Cascade County, Montana

NWS Great Falls, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 6, 1997, 4:03 PM MDT for Cascade County, Montana. It was in force for 57 min. 3 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
Jun 6, 1997, 4:03 PM MDT (22:03 UTC)
Expired
Jun 6, 1997, 5:00 PM MDT
In force
57 min
Issued by
NWS Great Falls, MT
Area
Whole counties

County Cascade County, MT

The radar

The Great Falls radar (KTFX), 17 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:01 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
Jun 6, 4:43 PM MDTHail 2Eden, MT
Jun 6, 4:43 PM MDTThunderstorm Wind 52Eden, MT
Jun 6, 5:00 PM MDTHail 2.75Monarch, MT

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
Jun 6, 4:00 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 12:00Z, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 59 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, Great_falls, MT at 12:00Z on 1997-06-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Great_falls, MT at 12:00Z on 1997-06-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 43 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
986 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
43 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
168 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 062205
SVRGTF
MTC013-062300-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
403 PM MDT FRI JUN 6 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  500 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTH MONTANA
 
   ...SOUTHWESTERN CASCADE COUNTY
 
AT 400 PM...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 40 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
GREAT FALLS. THIS STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH AND WILL MOVE
OVER SOUTHWEST CASCADE COUNTY BY 410 PM. THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF
PRODUCING 1 INCH HAIL...STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER @IN A
STRONG BUILDING.  DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...
AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.
STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 5, 6:34 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXBroadwater41 min
Jun 6, 2:55 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXLewis and Clark50 min
Jun 6, 3:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXLewis and Clark45 min
Jun 6, 4:19 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXChouteau, Judith Basin56 min
Jun 6, 4:38 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXCascade67 min
Jun 6, 5:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXBlaine, Chouteau, Fergus60 min
Jun 6, 5:31 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXCascade, Chouteau, Judith Basin, Meagher59 min
Jun 6, 5:52 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXYellowstone68 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Montana, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.