Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 42, NWS Omaha, NE
NWS Omaha, NE issued this tornado warning at Jun 20, 1998, 3:31 PM CDT for Gage County, Nebraska. It was in force for 49 min. 2 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
- Jun 20, 1998, 3:31 PM CDT (20:31 UTC)
- Expired
- Jun 20, 1998, 4:20 PM CDT
- In force
- 49 min
- Issued by
- NWS Omaha, NE
- Area
- Whole counties
County Gage County, NE
The radar
The Omaha radar (KOAX), 121 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:33 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 20, 3:48 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Beatrice, NE | |
| Jun 20, 4:25 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Filley, 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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 20, 3:15 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 121 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 3330 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -156 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1100 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 40 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 82 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 84 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 4.8
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
682 WFUS1 KOMA 202032 RRA TOROMA NEC067-202120- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 331 PM CDT SAT JUN 20 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... NORTHERN AND CENTRAL GAGE COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA * UNTIL 420 PM CDT * AT 329 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 32 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF LINCOLN OR 7 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF PICKRELL MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR... PICKRELL AT 345 PM CDT BEATRICE AT 345 PM CDT IF YOU ARE IN THE WARNED AREA...TAKE SHELTER IN A BASEMENT IF ONE IS AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. CARS AND MOBILE HOMES SHOULD BE ABANDONED. POWERS
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, Jun 20, 11:10 AM CDT, 4 hours 21 minutes before
NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034-042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093- IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-211200- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 1110 AM CDT SAT JUN 20 1998 ...SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA... SPOTTER ACTION... STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE REQUIRED OVER PARTS OF EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA FROM MID AFTERNOON INTO EARLY THIS EVENING. DISCUSSION... A COLD FRONT FROM NORTHEAST INTO SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA IS EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO EXTREME SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA EARLY THIS EVENING. THIS FRONT WILL BE COLLIDING WITH THE VERY WARM AND UNSTABLE AIR THAT IN PLACE AND WILL LIKELY GENERATE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE FRONT BEGINNING AFTER 300 PM. THE GREATEST LIKELIHOOD OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IS SOUTHEAST OF A LINE FROM JUST NORTHWEST OF OMAHA TO FAIRBURY. THERE IS A LESSER THREAT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FURTHER TO THE NORTHWEST IN THE COLUMBUS AND WAYNE AREAS. WARM AIR IN THE MID LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE IS CURRENTLY INHIBITING THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT...BUT COOLER AIR IS FORECAST TO MOVE INTO THE AREA FROM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. THIS COMBINED WITH CONTINUED LOW LEVEL HEATING WILL AID IN BREAKING THE CAP INITIATING THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. STORMS SPOTTER AND EMERGENCY MANAGERS SHOULD MONITOR DEVELOPMENTS CLOSELY THOUGH THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. SKERRITT
Special weather statement, Jun 20, 11:10 AM CDT, 4 hours 21 minutes before
NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034-042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093- IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-211200- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 1110 AM CDT SAT JUN 20 1998 ...SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA... SPOTTER ACTION... STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE REQUIRED OVER PARTS OF EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA FROM MID AFTERNOON INTO EARLY THIS EVENING. DISCUSSION... A COLD FRONT FROM NORTHEAST INTO SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA IS EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO EXTREME SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA EARLY THIS EVENING. THIS FRONT WILL BE COLLIDING WITH THE VERY WARM AND UNSTABLE AIR THAT IN PLACE AND WILL LIKELY GENERATE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE FRONT BEGINNING AFTER 300 PM. THE GREATEST LIKELIHOOD OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IS SOUTHEAST OF A LINE FROM JUST NORTHWEST OF OMAHA TO FAIRBURY. THERE IS A LESSER THREAT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FURTHER TO THE NORTHWEST IN THE COLUMBUS AND WAYNE AREAS. WARM AIR IN THE MID LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE IS CURRENTLY INHIBITING THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT...BUT COOLER AIR IS FORECAST TO MOVE INTO THE AREA FROM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. THIS COMBINED WITH CONTINUED LOW LEVEL HEATING WILL AID IN BREAKING THE CAP INITIATING THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. STORMS SPOTTER AND EMERGENCY MANAGERS SHOULD MONITOR DEVELOPMENTS CLOSELY THOUGH THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. SKERRITT
The office that day
Everything else NWS Omaha, NE issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 20, 2:30 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Lancaster | 50 min |
| Jun 20, 2:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Cass, Sarpy | 51 min |
| Jun 20, 3:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Gage, Saline | 49 min |
| Jun 20, 3:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Lancaster | 48 min |
| Jun 20, 3:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Otoe | 46 min |
| Jun 20, 4:05 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Lancaster | 35 min |
| Jun 20, 4:18 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | OAX | Gage, Pawnee | 32 min |
| Jun 20, 4:27 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Johnson | 48 min |
| Jun 20, 4:50 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | OAX | Pawnee | 35 min |
| Jun 20, 4:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Nemaha, Otoe | 52 min |
| Jun 20, 5:24 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | OAX | Pawnee | 31 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.