Alert archive / Montana / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Great Falls, MT

June 6, 1997Fergus County, Montana

NWS Great Falls, MT issued this tornado warning at Jun 6, 1997, 9:03 PM MDT for Fergus County, Montana. It was in force for 42 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
Jun 6, 1997, 9:03 PM MDT (03:03 UTC)
Expired
Jun 6, 1997, 9:45 PM MDT
In force
42 min
Issued by
NWS Great Falls, MT
Area
Whole counties

County Fergus County, MT

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 164 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:05 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 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
Jun 6, 7:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 00:00Z, 3.1 hours before the alert went out and 106 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 00:00Z on 1997-06-07Temperature 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 00:00Z on 1997-06-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -88 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
960 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-88 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-19 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGTF 070302 RRA
TORGTF
MTC027-070345-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
903 PM MDT FRI JUN 6 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  945 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN CENTRAL MONTANA
 
   ...EASTERN FERGUS COUNTY
 
AT 850 PM...A TORNADO WAS ON THE GROUND 10 MILES EAST LEWISTOWN MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. THIS STORM WILL AFFECT THE VALENTINE AREA BY
930 PM.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWESTT FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.
&

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 6, 6:21 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXBlaine, Chouteau69 min
Jun 6, 6:43 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXBlaine, Chouteau, Fergus, Judith Basin62 min
Jun 6, 7:46 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXBlaine, Fergus59 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Montana, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.