Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 34, NWS Hastings, NE

May 23, 1998Greeley County, Nebraska

NWS Hastings, NE issued this tornado warning at May 23, 1998, 9:12 PM CDT for Greeley County, Nebraska. It was in force for 33 min. 2 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: May 23, 1998, 9:12 PM CDT (02:12 UTC)
Expired: May 23, 1998, 9:45 PM CDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Hastings, NE
Area: Whole counties

County Greeley County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 139 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:16 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	Remark
May 23, 9:20 PM CDT	Hail 2.75	Greeley, NE
May 23, 9:40 PM CDT	Hail 2.75	Wolbach, NE

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

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 00:00Z, 2.2 hours before the alert went out and 180 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: 149 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2274 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 54 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 KGRI 240212 RRA
TORGRI
NEC077-240245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
912 PM CDT SAT MAY 23 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR PEOPLE IN...
  GREELEY COUNTY IN CENTRAL NEBRASKA

* UNTIL 945 PM CDT

* AT 910 PM... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 45 MILES NORTH OF GRAND ISLAND OR 5 MILES WEST OF
  GREELEY...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  HIGHWAY 281 5 MILES SOUTH OF GREELEY AROUND 920 PM
  WOLBACH BY 935 PM

TAKE SHELTER IN A BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS!

KD/JAB

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at May 23, 3:00 PM CDT, 6 hours 12 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 23, 3:00 PM CDT, 6 hours 12 minutes before

CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
300 PM CDT SAT MAY 23 1998

TRICKY FORECAST THIS CYCLE AS DEPENDENT UPON TIMING OF WEAK SHORTWAVES.
12Z MODEL RUNS INCONSISTENT WITH WEAK SHORTWAVES...BROAD SYNOPTIC
PATTERN SHOWS SOME AGREEMENT HOWEVER. UPPER LOW OVER NRN ROCKIES SHEARS
OUT WITH SOME REDEVELOPMENT OVER SDAK. MOST OF THIS ENERGY APPEARS TO
WANT TO STAY NORTH OF THE CWA. WEAK WAVES APPEAR IN INCREASING ZONAL
FLOW ACROSS KANSAS. RIDGING OVER ROCKIES BRINGS AREA UNDER NW FLOW
MONDAY WITH SHEARED OUT ENERGY OVER NRN PLAINS WANTING TO DROP SWD.
MOST SIGNIFICANT WAVES TO AFFECT THIS AREA HOWEVER APPEAR TO BE THIS
EVENING AND TOMORROW NIGHT.

CONVECTION FIRING WITH WAVE OVER ERN COLO APPEARS TO LACK ORGANIZATION.
EXPECT TO MOVE EWD INTO AREA BUT REMAIN RATHER SCATTERED. ETA/RUC
SUGGEST FORCING TO MOVE EAST OF AREA AFTER MIDNIGHT.

GUIDANCE TEMPS LOOK REASONABLE BUT MAY ALSO BE TRICKY DUE TO VARIABLE
CONDITIONS IN CLOUDS. WILL LEAN A BIT ON THE OPTIMISTIC SIDE WITH CLOUD
COVER PREFERRING PC/PS WORDING ATTM.

GRI BB 054/076/054/076 2132
HEB BB 055/078/056/077 2132
ODX BB 052/075/053/075 3232
LXN BB 050/075/051/076 2131
BEL BB 057/079/058/078 2132

BARRITT

The office that day

Everything else NWS Hastings, NE issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 23, 8:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Valley	43 min
May 23, 8:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Greeley	38 min
May 23, 8:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Valley	29 min
May 23, 9:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Howard	43 min
May 23, 9:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Sherman	32 min
May 23, 9:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Merrick, Nance	47 min
May 23, 10:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Howard	30 min
May 23, 10:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Hall, Hamilton, Merrick	34 min
May 23, 10:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Polk	34 min
May 23, 11:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	York	45 min
May 23, 11:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Hamilton	38 min
May 23, 11:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Clay	34 min
May 23, 11:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Fillmore	55 min
May 24, 12:23 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Thayer	52 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.