Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 20, NWS Great Falls, MT

June 6, 1997Cascade County, Montana

NWS Great Falls, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 6, 1997, 4:38 PM MDT for Cascade County, Montana. It was in force for 67 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, 4:38 PM MDT (22:38 UTC)
Expired: Jun 6, 1997, 5:45 PM MDT
In force: 67 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 22:38 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

Time	Report	Where
Jun 6, 4:43 PM MDT	Hail 2	Eden, MT
Jun 6, 4:43 PM MDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Eden, MT
Jun 6, 5:00 PM MDT	Hail 2.75	Monarch, 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jun 6, 4:00 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 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-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: 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 062238
SVRGTF
MTC013-062345-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
438 PM MDT FRI JUN 6 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 545 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH MONTANA
 
   ...SOUTHERN AND EASTERN CASCADE COUNTY
 
THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHWEST CASCADE COUNTY HAS BEEN
EXPANDED TO INCLUDE ALL OF SOUTHERN AND EASTERN CASCADE COUNTY. AT 430
PM...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 20 MILES SOUTH OF GREAT FALLS.
THIS STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH AND WILL BEGIN TO AFFECT THE
TOWN OF BELT BY 500 PM. LARGE DAMAGING HAIL...STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND
VERY HEAVY RAIN ARE LIKELY WITH THIS STORM.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DON'T USE TELEPHONES
OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM
HAS PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 5, 6:34 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Broadwater	41 min
Jun 6, 2:55 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Lewis and Clark	50 min
Jun 6, 3:45 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Lewis and Clark	45 min
Jun 6, 4:03 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Cascade	57 min
Jun 6, 4:19 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Chouteau, Judith Basin	56 min
Jun 6, 5:15 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Blaine, Chouteau, Fergus	60 min
Jun 6, 5:31 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Cascade, Chouteau, Judith Basin, Meagher	59 min
Jun 6, 5:52 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Yellowstone	68 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Montana, 1997 Every 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.