Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Hastings, NE

May 11, 1998Merrick County, Nebraska

NWS Hastings, NE issued this tornado warning at May 11, 1998, 7:22 PM CDT for Merrick County, Nebraska. It was in force for 38 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 11, 1998, 7:22 PM CDT (00:22 UTC)
Expired: May 11, 1998, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Hastings, NE
Area: Whole counties

County Merrick County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 100 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:24 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 11, 7:30 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Palmer, 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 11, 5:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 00:00Z, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 140 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: 294 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -65 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1842 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 89 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 226 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

257 
WFUS1 KGRI 120024 RRA
TORGRI
NEC121-120100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
722 PM CDT MON MAY 11 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS NE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR PEOPLE IN...
  MERRICK COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA

* UNTIL 800 PM CDT

* AT 719 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  POSSIBLE TORNADO 19 MILES NORTH OF GRAND ISLAND...OR 4 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF PALMER...MOVING EAST AT 30 MILES PER HOUR.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  PALMER AT 725 PM CDT
  ARCHER AT 735 PM CDT
  CLARKS AT 800 PM CDT
  
TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY IN A BASEMENT. IF A BASEMENT IS NOT
AVAILABLE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. STAY
AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

STAY TUNED TO LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS OR NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR THE
LATEST SEVERE WEATHER INFORMATION.

TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER...HAVE THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY
RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN HASTINGS
NE.

DEG

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 11, 2:00 PM CDT, 5 hours 22 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 11, 2:00 PM CDT, 5 hours 22 minutes before

CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
200 PM CDT MON MAY 11 1998

...SVR WEATHER THIS EVENING THEN TURNING QUIET FOR OUTPERIODS...

EARLY ISSUANCE TODAY IN ANTICIPATION OF SEVERE WEATHER DEVELOPING THIS
AFTERNOON.  18Z SFC ANALYSIS SHOWED FRONTAL BNDRY NC NEBR TO NW KS WITH
LOW PRESSURE BTWN MCK-GLD.  PSBL WARM FRONTOGENESIS OCCURRING NEAR
KS/NEB BORDER.  VSBL SATELLITE SHOWS CLEAR AREA FROM HLC-MCK WITH 62
DEW POINT AT HLC.  WV IMGRY SHOWS NEXT S/W OVER ERN COLO.

12Z MODEL RUNS CONTINUE TO INDICATE STRONG LIFT OF UNSTABLE AIR THIS
EVENING AND SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL REMAINS.  GOING FCST LOOKS GOOD
AND CANNOT FIND MUCH REASON TO MAKE MAJOR CHANGES.  ONLY FLY IN THE
OINTMENT SO FAR HAS BEEN EXTENSIVE LOW/MID LVL CLOUDS WHICH HAVE
LIMITED HEATING THUS FAR.  HOWEVER AS TSTMS FIRE IN AFOREMENTIONED
CLEAR AREA...CHAIN OF EVENTS WILL BE SET IN MOTION.

IN GENERAL HAVE PREFERRED ETA MODEL FOR THIS PACKAGE.  IF SQUALL
LINE SETS UP AS PER SWODY1 INDICATES...ETA DOES SHOW QUITE A BIT OF
SUBSIDENCE SETTING UP BEHIND IT OVER SC NEBR 06-12Z.  THIS MAY
CREATE STRONGER WINDS OVER THE AREA TONIGHT THAN PRVS FCST...AND
KEEP TEMPS A LITTLE WARMER OVERNIGHT.

POST CONVECTION ENVIRONMENT BEHIND FRONT TUE LIKELY TO BE FAVORABLE
FOR AT LEAST SOME CU WITH TEMPS PROBABLY NOT REACHING GUID OR PRVS
FCST LEVELS.  FRONT SHOULD BE DRIVEN FAR ENOUGH SOUTH BY CONVECTION
TNGT TO KEEP CHANCES FOR RETURN FLOW TSTMS OUT OF FCST UNTIL WED NGT
AS PER ETA/NGM INDICATIONS.  FAN POPS TOO HIGH AT THIS POINT TUE NGT.

TEMPS SHOULD WARM BACK UP WEDNESDAY WITH GUIDANCE IN BALL PARK.

GRI BB 053/076/053/080 6000
ODX BB 050/074/050/080 6000
LXN BB 050/075/051/081 6000
HBR BB 054/076/053/081 6000
BEL BB 056/078/054/083 6000

KD

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 11, 5:42 PM CDT, 1 hour 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  HASTINGS NE
542 PM CDT MON MAY 11 1998

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

0529 PM    MILLER                    NE   0.75 INCH HAIL
05/11/98   BUFFALO

DEG

Local storm report, May 11, 5:42 PM CDT, 1 hour 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  HASTINGS NE
542 PM CDT MON MAY 11 1998

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

0529 PM    MILLER                    NE   0.75 INCH HAIL
05/11/98   BUFFALO

DEG

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 11, 7:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Hall	44 min
May 11, 7:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Adams	47 min
May 11, 7:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Nuckolls	62 min
May 11, 7:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Clay	58 min
May 11, 7:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Hamilton	56 min
May 11, 7:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Nance	38 min
May 11, 8:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Thayer	57 min
May 11, 8:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Fillmore	65 min
May 11, 8:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Hamilton, Merrick	41 min
May 11, 8:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Merrick	46 min
May 11, 8:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Hamilton, Merrick, Polk, York	47 min
May 11, 9:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Thayer	27 min
May 11, 9:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Thayer	35 min
May 11, 9:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Polk, York	45 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.