Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1999
Tornado Warning 48, NWS Hastings, NE
NWS Hastings, NE issued this tornado warning at Aug 15, 1999, 7:25 PM CDT for Buffalo County, Nebraska. It was in force for 35 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
- Aug 15, 1999, 7:25 PM CDT (00:25 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 15, 1999, 8:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 35 min
- Issued by
- NWS Hastings, NE
- Area
- Whole counties
County Buffalo County, NE
The radar
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 80 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:27 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 nearest sounding before it
N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 00:00Z, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 132 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
- 117 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -73 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2924 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 67 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 74 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.6
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
160 WFUS1 KGRI 160025 RRA TORGRI NEC019-160100- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 725 PM CDT SUN AUG 15 1999 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR PEOPLE IN... EASTERN BUFFALO COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA * UNTIL 800 PM CDT * AT 723 PM CDT...THE PUBLIC REPORTED A TORNADO 15 MILES EAST OF KEARNEY...OR 2 MILES EAST OF GIBBON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH. SOME LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE... SHELTON THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SITUATION. A TORNADO HAS BEEN SIGHTED. PEOPLE IN SOUTHEASTERN BUFFALO COUNTY SHOULD TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY IN A BASEMENT OR SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. NEVER TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO. IF IN A VEHICLE...LEAVE IT IMMEDIATELY AND GET INSIDE A STURDY SHELTER. IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE NEAREST DITCH AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS. $$
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 Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Aug 15, 2:58 PM CDT, 4 hours 27 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 15, 2:58 PM CDT, 4 hours 27 minutes before
SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 258 PM CDT SUN AUG 15 1999 ...POPS STILL MAIN CHALLENGE THROUGH WED... ELEVATED CONVECTION DEVELOPED LAST NIGHT AROUND 09Z OVER ERN PART OF CWFA...AIDED BY 50 KNOT LOW LEVEL JET. THE 00Z ETA RUN FROM LAST EVENING DID NOT CATCH THIS...BUT THE 00Z NGM AND THE 12Z NGM FROM YESTERDAY DID PREDICT IT. SCENARIO FOR TONIGHT IS SOMEWHAT SIMILAR WITH SOME FACTORS POINTING TO NOCTURNAL CONVECTION...AND THE NGM/RUC/MM5 CALLING FOR PRECIP BUT THE ETA/AVN ARE DRY. 18Z SURFACE ANALYSIS HAS TROF TRYING TO ENTER WRN ZONES WITH MID 60S DEWPOINTS AHEAD OF TROF...WITH THE LOW OVER NRN SD AND COLD FRONT TRAILING. MAIN ENERGY WITH DAKOTAS SYSTEM...BUT THERE ARE HINTS OF WEAK SHORTWAVES RIDING THROUGH THE RIDGE AND THROUGH THE SUBTROPICAL PLUME WHICH WOULD PROVIDE SOME LIFT. IN ADDITION...THE H25 JET DROPS SLIGHTLY SOUTH WITH CWFA UNDER WEAK-MDT DIVERGENCE TONIGHT. THE SURFACE BOUNDARY SHOULD PROVIDE A FOCUS FOR CONVERGENCE. THUS IT IS DIFFICULT TO PIN DOWN THE MAGNITUDE OF VERTICAL MOTION TONIGHT BUT GIVEN THE ADEQUATE AMOUNT OF MOISTURE TO WORK WITH AND A FEW WEAK MECHANISMS...WILL GO WITH CHANCE POPS ALL OF CWFA TONIGHT... AS ADVERTISED BY NGM/MM5/RUC. MOST ACTIVITY SHOULD BE LATE... HOWEVER LATEST VISIBLE IMAGERY SHOWING AC/CU RAPIDLY DEVELOPING OVER NW KS/NE CO/SW NEBRASKA SO PERHAPS SOME EVENING ACTIVITY IS POSSIBLE IN SW COUNTIES. THIS IDEA SOMEWHAT SUPPORTED BY SPC SWODY1 DISCUSSION. AFTER TONIGHT THE MODEL OF CHOICE IS LESS CLEAR AND ALL MODELS ARE SIMILAR WITH FRONTAL PLACEMENT FROM ERN NEBRASKA INTO CENTRAL OR WRN KS AREA BY 18Z MON. THIS SEEMS TO BE ABOUT AS FAR SOUTH AS THE UPPER WINDS WOULD ALLOW IT TO GO...THEN MON NT AND TUE IT SHOULD WEAKEN AND MOST LIKELY DRIFT BACK NORTH AS UPPER RIDGE TRIES TO REBUILD. THE VAGUE LOCATION OF THIS FRONT AND LACK OF ANY DEFINED LIFTING MECHANISMS MAKE THE QPF PLACEMENT DIFFICULT AT BEST. WILL CARRY LOW POPS MON NT WITH THE FRONT AND POSSIBLY EVEN TUE IN NRN COUNTIES. THIS IDEA SOMEWHAT SUPPORTED BY DAY2 QPFPFD. THE AVN SHOWS A FAST MOVING WAVE SLIDING DOWN INTO NE NEBRASKA TUE NT ON TOP OF THE RIDGE...SO WILL NEED TO MONITOR THIS FEATURE WITH TIME. GID ALREADY UP TO 90 AT THIS TIME...SO GUIDANCE HIGH TEMPERATURES OF AROUND 90 AND 90-95 KS LOOK REASONABLE FOR MON AND TUE. OVERALL THE EXTENDED LOOKS QUIET WITH SEASONAL TEMPERATURES. .GID...NONE. NIETFELD
The office that day
Everything else NWS Hastings, NE issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 15, 7:05 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | GID | Hall | 40 min |
| Aug 15, 7:29 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Merrick, Nance | 46 min |
| Aug 15, 7:47 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Hall, Howard | 43 min |
| Aug 15, 8:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Hall | 42 min |
| Aug 15, 9:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Merrick | 36 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 1999Every tornado warning in 1999Tornadoes in 1999
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.