Alert archive / Wyoming / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Rapid City, SD

May 20, 1998Weston County, Wyoming

NWS Rapid City, SD issued this tornado warning at May 20, 1998, 3:21 PM MDT for Weston County, Wyoming. It was in force for 29 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 20, 1998, 3:21 PM MDT (21:21 UTC)
Expired
May 20, 1998, 3:50 PM MDT
In force
29 min
Issued by
NWS Rapid City, SD
Area
Whole counties

County Weston County, WY

The radar

The Rapid City radar (KUDX), 143 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:22 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 20, 1:30 PM MDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Riverton, WY (KRIW), launched 12:00Z, 9.4 hours before the alert went out and 321 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, Riverton, WY at 12:00Z on 1998-05-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Riverton, WY at 12:00Z on 1998-05-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 93 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
2007 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
93 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
247 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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.

NWS Rapid City, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at May 20, 10:05 AM MDT, 5 hours 16 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 20, 10:05 AM MDT, 5 hours 16 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD...CORRECTED DATE/TIME
1005 AM MDT WED MAY 20 1998

H20 VAP STLT LOOP SHOWS WHAT 12Z ETA SAYS IN THAT WK WAVE TO MOVE
THROUGH NE WY AND WRN SD MIDDAY AND THIS AFTERNOON. WOULD LOOK FOR A
LITTLE INTENSIFICATION OF -TSRA CURRENTLY OVR WRN WY...BUT UNSURE
ABOUT REDEVELOPMENT AFTER THIS BATCH OF SHOWERS PASS. CLD COVER
CURRENTLY SUPPRESSING HEATING OVR SD SO DEVELOPMENT WOULD HAVE TO
OCCUR IN THE NEXT FEW HOURS IN ERN WY...THEN MOVE INTO WRN SD. RUC2
SFC SHOWS AREA OF SFC H20 CONV IN ERN WY BY 00Z...ETA HAS THIS SAME
FEATURE A LITTLE SOONER THEN MOVES IT EAST INTO WRN SD. SO I GUESS
THAT MDLS MATCH UP WELL WITH CURRENT FCST AND I SHOULDNT NEED TO
UPDATE. ALSO ISSUED SPS FOR SLIGHT RISK OF SVR NE WY AND WRN SD AS
SHEAR AROUND 25 M/S AND CAPES A2500 SHOULD BE ENOUGH FOR A SUPERCELL
OR TWO.

.UNR...NONE.

BAILEY SPECI KUNR 201605Z 13012KT 17/13

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 20, 9:40 AM MDT, 5 hours 41 minutes before
SDZ001-002-012>014-024>032-041>044-046-047-049-WYZ054>058-220600-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
940 AM MDT THU MAY 20 1998

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER SOUTH CENTRAL
AND WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA AND NORTHEAST WYOMING THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING. LOCATIONS SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 90 WILL HAVE THE BEST CHANCE
FOR SEVERE WEATHER. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THE STORMS WILL BE LARGE
HAIL AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL.

INCREASING MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR COMBINED WITH AN UPPER LEVEL
DISTURBANCE WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY. THESE
STORMS WILL FURTHER INTENSIFY THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

WYCJIN-WYNE
BAILEY

The office that day

Everything else NWS Rapid City, SD issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 20, 2:49 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRWeston46 min
May 20, 3:21 PM MDTTornado WarningUNRWeston34 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Wyoming, 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.