Alert archive / Nebraska / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 142, NWS North Platte, NE

June 17, 1998Wheeler County, Nebraska

NWS North Platte, NE issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 17, 1998, 8:00 PM CDT for Wheeler County, Nebraska. It was in force for 65 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: Jun 17, 1998, 8:00 PM CDT (01:00 UTC)
Expired: Jun 17, 1998, 9:05 PM CDT
In force: 65 min
Issued by: NWS North Platte, NE
Area: Whole counties

County Wheeler County, NE

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 169 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:02 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
Jun 17, 8:05 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Bartlett, NE	Large tree limbs blown down.

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
Jun 17, 6:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 00:00Z, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 191 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: 3449 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -133 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1514 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 76 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 165 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 11.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

753 
WUUS1 KLBF 180058 RRA
SVRLBF
NEC183-180205-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
800 PM CDT WED JUN 17 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTH PLATTE HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  WHEELER COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA

* UNTIL 905 PM CDT

* AT 758 PM CDT... NORTH PLATTE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 43 MILES SOUTH OF O NEILL OR 6 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
  BARTLETT MOVING NORTH AT 25 MPH.  ANOTHER SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
  WAS LOCATED 10 MILES NORTHWEST OF BARTLETT...OR ABOUT 35 MILES
  SOUTH OF ONEILL.  THIS STORM WAS MOVING NORTH AT 35 MPH...AND
  WILL REMAIN IN RURAL AREAS NORTHWEST OF BARTLETT.

* DAMAGING HAIL AND/OR DESTRUCTIVE WINDS CAN BE EXPECTED NEAR...
  BARTLETT                     BY 805 PM CDT

A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFFECT GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING AND
STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY
DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.

WERT

What forecasters said that day

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

NWS North Platte, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jun 17, 2:20 PM CDT, 5 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 17, 2:20 PM CDT, 5 hours 40 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
220 PM CDT WED JUN 17 1998

...SHORT TERM PROBLEM WILL BE THUNDERSTORMS....

SURFACE BOUNDARY/FRONT LOCATED FROM WEST OF VTN...TO JUST WEST OF
LBF...TO NEAR MCK AND MOVG LITTLE AS LOW DRIFTS NORTH ALONG FRONT TO
THE NORTHWEST OF LBF.  ANOTHER LOW IN SOUTHEAST CO ALONG FRONT.  LOW
CLOUDS WITH SOME DRIZZLE AND FOG IN PLACE OVER THE EASTERN PANHANDLE
INTO PARTS OF NORTH CENTRAL NE.  EAST OF FRONT BEST SURFACE CONVERGENCE
FROM CENTRAL KS INTO CENTRAL AND EASTERN NE. 60+ DEWPOINTS ACROSS THE
AREA WITH DRY PUNCH PUSHING INTO SOUTHWEST KS. KFTG AND KCYS WITH SHWRS
TSTMS MOVING INTO THE HIGH PLAINS

SEVERAL FACTORS SEEM TO BE IN PLACE FOR A SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER
EVENT THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT.  STRONG CAP IN PLACE SHOULD LIMIT
DEVELOPMENT UNTIL STRONG DYNAMICS WITH UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM BEGIN TO TAKE
EFFECT AND SITUATION AT THAT POINT COULD BECOME EXPLOSIVE WITH A VERY
UNSTABLE ATMOSPHERE WAITING. 7H TEMPS DROP FROM 4 TO 6 DEG C BETWEEN
00Z AND 06Z OVER MUCH OF CWFA AND A DELTA T AT -20 OR GREATER. LAYER
MEAN VVELS AND Q-G FORCING ARE PRESENT IN VARYING DEGREES DEPENDING ON
THE MODEL.

AFTER TONIGHT IT APPEARS ETA AGAIN TOO FAST MOVING SURFACE SYSTEM OUT
OF THE CWFA AND WILL OPT FOR AVN/NGM AS MODEL OF CHOICE. MEAN RH
INCREASES OVER CWFA FROM NORTHWEST DURING DAY WITH GOOD LIFT.  BEST
POPS NORTHWEST DECREASING TO SOUTH AND EAST. LAYER MEAN LAPSE RATES
WOULD STILL POINT TO TSTMS IN THE ANW/ONL GROUP.  THU NGT AND FRI WITH
LESS CLDNS AND ONLY SMALL POPS ACROSS THE NORTH ON THU.  MOS NUMBERS
SIMILAR AND FOLLOWED.

PRELIMINARY GUIDANCE FOR COORDINATION ONLY.  OFFICIAL FORECASTS ARE
CONTAINED WITHIN PRODUCT OMAZFPNE.

CCF
LBF EB 056/078 050/085 056 431-   OGA EB 056/071 052/079 056 331-
ONL EB 062/079 053/079 058 543-   IML EB 058/076 052/082 056 331-
VTN EB 056/068 049/080 055 463-

BOWMAN

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 17, 7:52 PM CDT, 8 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  NORTH PLATTE NE
752 PM CDT WED JUN 17 1998

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

0705 PM    5 SE ERICSON              NE   0.75 INCH HAIL
06/17/98   WHEELER

0715 PM    5 NE ERICSON              NE   1.50 INCH HAIL
06/17/98   WHEELER

SLM

Local storm report, Jun 17, 7:52 PM CDT, 8 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  NORTH PLATTE NE
752 PM CDT WED JUN 17 1998

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

0705 PM    5 SE ERICSON              NE   0.75 INCH HAIL
06/17/98   WHEELER

0715 PM    5 NE ERICSON              NE   1.50 INCH HAIL
06/17/98   WHEELER

SLM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 17, 7:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Holt	66 min
Jun 17, 8:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Custer	64 min
Jun 17, 8:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Boyd, Holt	48 min
Jun 17, 11:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Custer	63 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Nebraska, 1998 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.