Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 10, NWS North Platte, NE

May 21, 1998Frontier County, Nebraska

NWS North Platte, NE issued this tornado warning at May 21, 1998, 7:01 PM CDT for Frontier County, Nebraska. It was in force for 34 min. 4 reports 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 21, 1998, 7:01 PM CDT (00:01 UTC)
Expired: May 21, 1998, 7:35 PM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS North Platte, NE
Area: Whole counties

County Frontier County, NE

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 160 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:02 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
May 21, 7:13 PM CDT	Hail 2.75	Stockville, NE
May 21, 7:15 PM CDT	Hail 2.75	Stockville, NE	Baseball size hail destroyed 160 acres of wheat and broke out windows in a house.
May 21, 7:20 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Moorefield, NE
May 21, 7:45 PM CDT	Hail 2	Stockville, NE	A thunderstorm dropped up to two inch diameter hail which caused damage to crops and property.

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 21, 3:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 00:00Z, 0.0 hours before the alert went out and 69 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: 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

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

000 
TTAA00 KLBF 212358 RRA
TORLBF
NEC063-220035-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
701 PM CDT THU MAY 21 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTH PLATTE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN FRONTIER COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN NEBRASKA

* UNTIL 735 PM CDT

* AT 700 PM CDT... NORTH PLATTE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO
  23 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF MCCOOK OR 3 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF
  MEDICINE CREEK DAM MOVING NORTH AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  MEDICINE CREEK DAM           BY 710 PM CDT

THIS IS A DANGEROUS SITUATION! ACT QUICKLY! IT MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE!
MOVE TO A BASEMENT IF POSSIBLE. OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR
R,OOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS AND DOORS.

MTM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 21, 7:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LBF	Perkins	32 min
May 21, 7:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Lincoln	66 min
May 21, 7:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LBF	Frontier	32 min
May 21, 7:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Chase, Perkins	66 min
May 21, 7:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LBF	Chase, Perkins	62 min
May 21, 8:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LBF	Hayes	66 min
May 21, 8:59 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LBF	Hayes	66 min
May 21, 9:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Perkins	47 min
May 21, 9:26 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LBF	Frontier	64 min
May 21, 9:59 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LBF	Frontier	66 min
May 21, 11:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Chase	62 min
May 21, 11:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Chase	44 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.