Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 24, NWS Omaha, NE

May 28, 1998Cedar County, Nebraska

NWS Omaha, NE issued this tornado warning at May 28, 1998, 6:34 PM CDT for Cedar County, Nebraska. It was in force for 31 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 28, 1998, 6:34 PM CDT (23:34 UTC)
Expired
May 28, 1998, 7:05 PM CDT
In force
31 min
Issued by
NWS Omaha, NE
Area
Whole counties

County Cedar County, NE

The radar

The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 118 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:34 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 28, 6:40 PM CDTTornado F2Coleridge, NEThree farms damaged. Eight to ten power poles downed 8 -10 miles east southeast of Hartington. Injury occurred about 9 miles east of Hartington southeast of the Highway 84/57 interchange.

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

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 160 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, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 1998-05-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1669 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, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 1998-05-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 242 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
1669 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-237 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
991 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
242 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
226 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

069 
WFUS1 KOMA 282335 RRA
TOROMA
NEC027-290005-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
634 PM CDT THU MAY 28 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CEDAR COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN NEBRASKA

* UNTIL 705 PM CDT

* AT 632 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A POSSIBLE TORNADO 22 MILES SOUTHEAST OF YANKTON OR 6 MILES EAST
  OF HARTINGTON MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO AFFECT RURAL AREAS NORTH OF LAUREL...
PERSONS IN THE WARNED AREA SHOULD TAKE SHELTER IN A BASEMENT IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR.  CARS AND MOBILE HOMES SHOULD BE ABANDONED.

LJH

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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 28, 4:35 PM CDT, 1 hour 59 minutes before
NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034-042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-
IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-291200-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
435 PM CDT THU MAY 28 1998

...SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA...

SPOTTER ACTION...
STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED TONIGHT ACROSS PARTS OF
EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA.

DISCUSSION...
A WEAK FRONTAL BOUNDARY EXTENDING FROM NORTHWEST IOWA TO SOUTHWEST
NEBRASKA WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE SLOWLY SOUTHEAST REACHING FAR
SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA LATE TONIGHT.

THE FRONT COMBINED WITH A MOIST AND EXTREMELY UNSTABLE AIRMASS IS
EXPECTED TO TRIGGER SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT. SOME OF THESE
STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH THE PRIMARY THREAT BEING DAMAGING
WINDS...HEAVY RAINFALL AND LOCAL FLASH-FLOODING.  THE GREATEST AREA
AT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WOULD BE NORTH OF A LINE FROM
COLUMBUS TO ONAWA IOWA THIS EVENING.

LJH
Special weather statement, May 28, 4:35 PM CDT, 1 hour 59 minutes before
NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034-042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-
IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-291200-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
435 PM CDT THU MAY 28 1998

...SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA...

SPOTTER ACTION...
STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED TONIGHT ACROSS PARTS OF
EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA.

DISCUSSION...
A WEAK FRONTAL BOUNDARY EXTENDING FROM NORTHWEST IOWA TO SOUTHWEST
NEBRASKA WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE SLOWLY SOUTHEAST REACHING FAR
SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA LATE TONIGHT.

THE FRONT COMBINED WITH A MOIST AND EXTREMELY UNSTABLE AIRMASS IS
EXPECTED TO TRIGGER SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT. SOME OF THESE
STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH THE PRIMARY THREAT BEING DAMAGING
WINDS...HEAVY RAINFALL AND LOCAL FLASH-FLOODING.  THE GREATEST AREA
AT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WOULD BE NORTH OF A LINE FROM
COLUMBUS TO ONAWA IOWA THIS EVENING.

LJH

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 28, 6:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXCedar36 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.