Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 56, NWS Hastings, NE

October 16, 1998Phelps County, Nebraska

NWS Hastings, NE issued this tornado warning at Oct 16, 1998, 6:15 PM CDT for Phelps County, Nebraska. It was in force for 30 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: Oct 16, 1998, 6:15 PM CDT (23:15 UTC)
Expired: Oct 16, 1998, 6:45 PM CDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Hastings, NE
Area: Whole counties

County Phelps County, NE

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Oct 16, 3:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 121 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: 658 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -50 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1017 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 67 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 250 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 246 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGRI 162315 RRA
TORGRI
NEC137-172345-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
615 PM CDT FRI OCT 16 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR PEOPLE IN...
  PHELPS IN SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA

* UNTIL 645 PM CDT

* AT 614 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A TORNADO 13 MILES WEST OF HOLDREGE OR 6 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
  LOOMIS... MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

  ...PHELPS COUNTY SPOTTERS ALSO REPORTED A TORNADO 6 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF LOOMIS AT 612 PM...

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE...
  BETWEEN BERTRAND AND LOOMIS BETWEEN 615 AND 630 PM CDT.


A TORNADO IS ON THE GROUND! GO TO THE BASEMENT! IF A BASEMENT IS
NOT AVAILABLE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!

KD/LEW


&

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 Oct 16, 2:15 PM CDT, 4 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 16, 2:15 PM CDT, 4 hours before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
215 PM CDT FRI OCT 16 1998

MIDDAY SFC CHART HAS DEEPENING LOW IN COLO WITH AN INVERTED TROF/WARM
FRONT FROM SE SD INTO THE COLO LOW. 60+ DEW POINTS TO THE SOUTH OF THE
BOUNDRY.  UEX 88D SHOWING TRW DEVELOPING AND TO THE WEST GLD/LBF ARE
ALREADY ISSUING WARNINGS. UA ANAL HAS CLOSED LOW AT 5H NEAR SLC VERY
CLOSE TO WHERE THE ETA HAS ADVERTISED THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS. 7H LOW
IN SW WY. 85H HAS DEW POINTS >+10 FROM MN TO TX.

OBVIOUS FCST PROBLEMS ARE CHANCES OF SVR WX THIS EVENING AND TIMING
AND MOVEMENT OF THE UPPER LOW AND SFC FRONT. ALTHOUGH MODELS ARE IN
FAIR AGREEMENT WITH THE OVERALL PATTERN THERE ARE SOME DIFFERENCES
WITH THE FINER DETAILS. THE MAIN DIFFERENCE IS THE ETA MOVING THE SFC
LOW QUICKLY OFF TO THE NE ON SATURDAY.  THE NGM/AVN ARE SLOWER AND AS
A RESULT SUGGEST PRECIPITATION LINGERING LONGER ACROSS THE CWA ON
SATURDAY.  ALL MODELS INDICATE DRYING ON SUNDAY AS HIGH PRESSURE AND
CAA SETTLE IN.  LOOKS LIKE IT WILL GO FROM WINDY FROM THE SOUTH TO
WINDY FROM THE NORTH.

THERE WILL BE WEAK ISENTROPIC LIFT AND 3H DIVERGENCE OVER PORTIONS OF
THE CWA UNTIL AROUND MIDNjIGHT SO WITH ALL THE ELEMENTS IN PLACE
CANNOT RULE OUT CHANCE OF SEVERE. TEND TO THINK WE WILL HAVE SOME SHOWERS
FOR AT LEAST SOME OF SATURDAY SO WILL HAVE POPS AGAIN.

.GID...NONE.

GRIFFITH

In the hours before

Local storm report, Oct 16, 5:19 PM CDT, 56 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  HASTINGS NE
519 PM CDT FRI OCT 16 1998

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0500 PM    4 S WILSONVILLE           NE   0.75 INCH HAIL
10/16/98   FURNAS

KD

Local storm report, Oct 16, 5:19 PM CDT, 56 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  HASTINGS NE
519 PM CDT FRI OCT 16 1998

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0500 PM    4 S WILSONVILLE           NE   0.75 INCH HAIL
10/16/98   FURNAS

KD

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 16, 4:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Dawson	39 min
Oct 16, 4:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Dawson	57 min
Oct 16, 4:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Furnas	37 min
Oct 16, 5:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Furnas, Gosper, Phelps	59 min
Oct 16, 5:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Dawson	30 min
Oct 16, 6:37 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Buffalo, Dawson	38 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.