Alert archive / Nebraska / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 52, NWS North Platte, NE

May 20, 1998Deuel County, Nebraska

NWS North Platte, NE issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 20, 1998, 9:52 PM MDT for Deuel County, Nebraska. It was in force for 63 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 20, 1998, 9:52 PM MDT (03:52 UTC)
Expired
May 20, 1998, 10:55 PM MDT
In force
63 min
Issued by
NWS North Platte, NE
Area
Whole counties

County Deuel County, NE

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 174 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:53 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 20, 10:00 PM MDTHail 0.75Chappell, 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, 3.9 hours before the alert went out and 145 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 1998-05-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 606 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 1998-05-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 52 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
606 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-187 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1739 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
52 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
183 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLBF 210349 RRA
SVRLBF
NEC049-210455-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
1052 PM CDT (952 PM MDT) WED MAY 20 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTH PLATTE HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN DEUEL COUNTY IN THE NEBRASKA PANHANDLE

* UNTIL 1055 PM MDT (1155 PM CDT)

* AT 950 PM MDT... NORTH PLATTE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 31 MILES WEST OF OGALLALA OR 15 MILES NORTHWEST OF
  BIG SPRINGS MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

* DAMAGING HAIL AND/OR DESTRUCTIVE WINDS CAN BE EXPECTED NEAR...
  BIG SPRINGS                  BY 1025 PM MDT

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM! STAY INDOORS AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

BOWMAN

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 May 20, 1:00 PM MDT, 8 hours 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 20, 1:00 PM MDT, 8 hours 52 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
200 PM CDT WED MAY 20 1998

CHANCES FOR SVR TSRA AND THEN TEMPS ARE STILL THE MAIN CONCERNS...

18Z SFC ANALYSIS OF WIND FIELD SHOWS STATIONARY FRONT LOCATED ACROSS
THE WRN PANHANDLE INTO NWRN KS...EWD INTO NRN MO. WINDS REMAIN WEAK
ALONG THE FRONT...BUT IN NC NEBR AND THE PANHANDLE HAVE PICKED UP SOME.
STORMS ALREADY GOING IN ERN WY ATTM AND WILL HAVE TO WATCH THESE AS THEY
MOVE INTO THE NRN PNHANDLE.

SUMMERTIME WX PATTERN CONTINUES WITH UPPER TROF BEGINNING TO MOVE
ONSHORE IN THE W. NGM SEEMS A LITTLE TOO FAST WITH THIS UPPER SYSTEM.
FOR CONVECTION PURPOSES...HARD TO FIND UPPER FORCING WITH THIS TYPE OF
PATTERN...BUT IT WONT TAKE MUCH. FOR TONIGHT...JET AXIS AT 250 MB RUNS
ACROSS THE PANHANDLE BY 00Z THU. UPPER DIVERGENCE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS
JET IS PROGGED TO TRACK ACROSS SRN SD THRU THE EVENING. ETA BECOMES
CONTAMINATED IN THE 200-300 MB LAYER BY 06Z THU WITH CONVECTIVE
FEEDBACK...BUT THIS MAY BE A GOOD INDICATION OF WHERE THE MODEL THINKS
A CONVECTIVE SYSTEM WOULD BE AT THIS TIME. REGARDLESS...STORMS
DEVELOPING OVER THE FRONT RANGE ALREADY AND SINCE THEY SEEM TO BE DOING
SO OVER A WIDE RANGE...WOULD SUSPECT THAT THERE IS SOME SORT OF SHORT
WAVE HIDDEN IN THE FLOW. SOME INDICATION OF THIS POSSIBLE AS WELL IN
WATER VAPOR LOOPS. ATMOSPHERE IN THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN PART OF THE
STATE IS LIKELY STILL RECOVERING FROM OVERNIGHT CONVECTION...BUT TEMPS
IN THE NRN PANHANDLE WARMING SIMILAR TO YDAY...WITH DEW POINTS THERE
ABOUT 5-6 DEGREES HIGHER. AS TEMPS NEAR CONVECTIVE TEMP...WOULD EXPECT
CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF THE PANHANDLE INTO SWRN
SD BY LATE AFTERNOON. THEN...CORFIDI VECTORS WOULD SUGGEST A ERN
PROPAGATION OF A CONVECTIVE SYSTEM IF MCS DEVELOPS. GENERAL COOLING OF
THE UPPER LEVELS NOT INDICATED AT THIS TIME...HOWEVER CONTINUED
ISENTROPIC LIFT OVER THE PANHANDLE MAY ALLOW FOR SOME DYNAMIC COOLING
SIMILAR TO YDAY.

SIMILAR CONDITIONS SET UP FOR TOMORROW WITH FRONT MOVING LITTLE EXCEPT
FOR WHAT CONVECTION DOES TO IT. LOW LEVEL THETA-E MAX DOES SHIFT EWD
SOME ON THU...SUGGESTING INITIAL DEVELOPMENT MAY TAKE PLACE A LITTLE
FURTHER EWD INTO NC NEBR...BUT WITH MODELS HAVING A DIFFICULT TIME WITH
UPPER SUPPORT...WONT WORRY ABOUT PINNING LOCATION DOWN...BUT WITH
BETTER LIFT PROGGED BY 00Z FRI...WOULD EXPECT A SIMILAR SCENARIO. WILL
AGAIN GO WITH A BLEND OF GUIDANCE FOR TEMPS WITH LITTLE CHANGE IN THE
PATTERN EXPECTED. TEMPS WILL DEPEND HIGHLY ON AMOUNT OF CLOUD COVER
WITH LEFT OVER CONVECTION.

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

CCF
LBF BB 053/078 053/077 052 324
OGA BB 055/078 053/077 053 324
ONL BE 058/078 056/074 054 424
VTN BE 053/079 053/076 050 435

STOPPKOTTE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 20, 8:11 PM MDTTornado WarningLBFDeuel, Garden64 min
May 20, 9:14 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFGarden61 min
May 20, 9:28 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFCherry62 min
May 21, 4:26 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFChase64 min
May 21, 4:33 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFPerkins62 min
May 21, 5:36 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFPerkins64 min
May 21, 6:15 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFHayes50 min
May 21, 6:29 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFKeith46 min
May 21, 6:36 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFLincoln64 min
May 21, 6:40 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFPerkins50 min
May 21, 6:44 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFFrontier66 min
May 21, 7:27 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFFrontier63 min
May 21, 7:38 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFLincoln62 min
May 21, 8:28 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFFrontier32 min
May 21, 1:19 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFArthur66 min
May 21, 1:33 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFGrant, Hooker62 min
May 21, 2:09 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFMcPherson66 min
May 21, 2:57 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFHooker, McPherson, Thomas63 min
May 21, 3:03 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFKeith, Lincoln62 min
May 21, 5:38 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFFrontier62 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Nebraska, 1998Every 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.