Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Goodland, KS

May 21, 1998Red Willow County, Nebraska

NWS Goodland, KS issued this tornado warning at May 21, 1998, 7:35 PM CDT for Red Willow County, Nebraska. It was in force for 35 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
May 21, 1998, 7:35 PM CDT (00:35 UTC)
Expired
May 21, 1998, 8:10 PM CDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS Goodland, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Red Willow County, NE

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 138 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:36 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
May 21, 3:15 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 107 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 1998-05-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 685 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 1998-05-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 34 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
685 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-16 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
548 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
34 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
73 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at May 21, 3:22 PM CDT, 4 hours 13 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 21, 3:22 PM CDT, 4 hours 13 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
222 PM MDT (322 PM CDT) THU MAY 21 1998

THINGS ARE GETTING BUSY HERE EARLY THIS AFTN. UPPER JET MAX NOW
ENTERING SRN ZONES HELPING TO TRIGGER CONVECTION THERE. AS THIS MAX
APPROACHES BOUNDARY OVER NRN/ERN ZONES...EXPECT RAPID DEVELOPMENT
WITH SEVERE. WILL ISSUE AFTN ZONE PKG A BIT EARLY TO INCLUDE TORNADO
WATCH HEADLINE FOR NRN/NERN ZONES.

OVERALL FOLLOWED ETA. HIGHEST POPS THIS PKG NRN ZONES NEAR
BOUNDARY...WITH LOWEST POPS SOUTHWEST IN DRY AIR. MCS TO OUR N TNGT
WILL PROBABLY SEND OUTFLOW THRU THE CWA TNGT...LEAVING THINGS
COOLER FOR FRIDAY...AND PSBLY LATE NGT/EARLY MORN FOG NE. STILL SOME
UNCERTAINTY FOR AFT EVE CONVECTION TMRW DUE TO BOUNDARY LOCATION...
HOWEVER UPPER JET SHOULD BRING DRIER AIR...AND LOWER CHANCES S/SW.

.GLD...NONE.
STAVISH

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 21, 3:16 PM CDT, 4 hours 19 minutes before
COZ090-KSZ001>004-015-016-NEZ079>081-220205-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
214 PM MDT (314 PM CDT) THU MAY 21 1998

...A TORNADO WATCH HAS BEEN POSTED FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST
   KANSAS...ALL OF EXTREME SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA...AND YUMA COUNTY IN
   NORTHEAST COLORADO UNTIL 8 PM MDT (9 PM CDT)...

AT 211 PM MDT (311 PM CDT)...THE ATMOSPHERE HAS BECOME VERY UNSTABLE
ALONG AND NORTH OF A LINE FROM EXTREME SOUTHWEST YUMA COUNTY TO ST
FRANCIS KANSAS...TO HILL CITY THIS AFTERNOON. A STRONG UPPER LEVEL
DISTURBANCE MOVING IN FROM THE SOUTHWEST WILL TRIGGER THUNDERSTORMS
ACROSS THIS AREA THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS. LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING
WINDS AND TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS.

A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM MDT (9 PM CDT) FOR

YUMA COUNTY IN NORTHEAST COLORADO...

DUNDY...HITCHCOCK AND RED WILLOW COUNTIES OF SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA

CHEYENNE...RAWLINS...DECATUR...NORTON...SHERIDAN AND GRAHAM COUNTIES
OF NORTHWEST KANSAS.

CITIES IN THE TORNADO WATCH INCLUDE...YUMA...WRAY...BENKELMAN...
TRENTON...MCCOOK...ST FRANCIS...ATWOOD...OBERLIN...NORTON... HOXIE
AND HILL CITY.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS THAT TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE IN
AND NEAR THE WATCH AREA.  LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS MAY ALSO
OCCUR.  BE READY TO MOVE TO A BASEMENT OR STORM CELLAR IF A WARNING
IS ISSUED FOR YOUR AREA.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...RADIO...CABLE TELEVISION...OR
TELEVISION FOR THE LATEST UPDATES AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS CONCERNING
THIS DANGEROUS WEATHER SITUATION.

TURNER

The office that day

Everything else NWS Goodland, KS issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 21, 7:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDRed Willow29 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.