Alert archive / Idaho / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Boise, ID

May 12, 1998Twin Falls County, Idaho

NWS Boise, ID issued this tornado warning at May 12, 1998, 2:44 PM MDT for Twin Falls County, Idaho. It was in force for 51 min. 1 report 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
May 12, 1998, 2:44 PM MDT (20:44 UTC)
Expired
May 12, 1998, 3:35 PM MDT
In force
51 min
Issued by
NWS Boise, ID
Area
Whole counties

County Twin Falls County, ID

The radar

The Boise radar (KCBX), 180 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:44 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
May 12, 2:45 PM MDTTornado F0Buhl, IDA thunderstorm produced a weak tornado near Buhl. Numerous spotters reported a funnel cloud which briefly touched down and was photographed by a local newspaper. The tornado was short lived and produced no known damage over open and unpopulated terrain.

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 nearest sounding before it

Elko, NV (KLKN), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 170 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, Elko, NV at 12:00Z on 1998-05-12Temperature 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 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Elko, NV at 12:00Z on 1998-05-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 42 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
904 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
96 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.

017 
WFUS1 KBOI 122047 RRA
TORBOI
IDC083-122135-

BULLETIN -- IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE ID
244 PM MDT TUE MAY 12 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BOISE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR:
  NORTHERN TWIN FALLS COUNTY - SOUTH CENTRAL IDAHO

* UNTIL 335 PM MDT

* AT 243 PM MDT... A TORNADO WAS INDICATED 14 MILES WEST OF TWIN
  FALLS OR 4 MILES SOUTH OF BUHL... BY SPOTTERS... MOVING NORTH
  25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  BUHL  AT 245 PM MDT

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...SEEK SHELTER IN A
BASEMENT OR IN AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  AVOID
WINDOWS.

&

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Idaho, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes in 1998

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.