Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 1999
Tornado Warning 47, NWS North Platte, NE
NWS North Platte, NE issued this tornado warning at Jul 2, 1999, 7:43 PM MDT for Keith County, Lincoln County, McPherson County, Nebraska. It was in force for 47 min. 3 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
- Jul 2, 1999, 7:43 PM MDT (01:43 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 2, 1999, 8:30 PM MDT
- In force
- 47 min
- Issued by
- NWS North Platte, NE
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Keith County, NE, Lincoln County, NE, McPherson County, NE
The radar
The North Platte radar (KLNX), 90 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:42 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2, 7:50 PM MDT | Hail 0.75 | North Platte, NE | |
| Jul 2, 7:53 PM MDT | Thunderstorm Wind 70 | North Platte, NE | A severe thunderstorm produced wind of at least 70 mph in and around North Platte. At the Union Pacific Railroad's Bailey Yard, the wind damaged several rail cars. Despite having air brakes set, six railroad cars were displaced for a considerable distance and |
| Jul 2, 8:30 PM MDT | Hail 0.75 | Maxwell, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2, 3:00 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
| Jul 2, 7:30 PM MDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 00:00Z, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 49 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
- 5849 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -63 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1210 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 109 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 152 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 3.4
- Supercell composite
- 25.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KLBF 030143 RRA TORLBF NEC101-111-117-030230- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 843 PM CDT (743 PM MDT) FRI JUL 2 1999 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTH PLATTE HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... NORTHEASTERN KEITH COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN NEBRASKA NORTHWESTERN LINCOLN COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN NEBRASKA SOUTHWESTERN MCPHERSON COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL NEBRASKA * UNTIL 830 PM MDT (930 PM CDT) * AT 739 PM MDT (839 PM CDT)... SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO 6 MILES NORTH OF PAXTON OR 15 MILES EAST OF OGALLALA MOVING MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR... SARBEN BY 745 PM MDT (845 PM CDT) FLATS BY 905 PM CDT GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR! A TORNADO IS ON THE GROUND! DLS
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 North Platte, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jul 2, 1:45 PM MDT, 5 hours 58 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 2, 1:45 PM MDT, 5 hours 58 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE 245 PM CDT FRI JUL 2 1999 ...FORECAST CHALLENGES ARE THUNDERSTORM CHANCES TONIGHT THEN TEMPERATURES... SURFACE WARM FRONT HAS LIFTED NORTH THROUGH MOST OF CWFA PUSHING DEWPOINTS INTO LOWER TO MID 70S SE OF AXIS FROM VTN TO IML. WARM FRONT EXTENDED SW TO LOW IN FAR SE WY. CI FROM CONVECTION OVER MTNS HAS KEPT TEMPERATURES A BIT COOLER THAN EXPECTED SO FAR. VERY UNSTABLE BUT CAPPED ATMOSPHERE IS OVER AREA FROM MCK TO VTN. FORECAST PROBLEM IS WHERE CONVECTION WILL DEVELOP TONIGHT. NEAREST UPSTREAM TSRA ACTIVITY AT 19Z WAS FROM CENTRAL CO TO SW KS ASSOCIATED WITH WEAK SHORTWAVE MOVING OUT OF NEW MEXICO. WITHOUT STRONG DYNAMICS...WILL LEAVE IN 20 PERCENT POPS FOR OVERNIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS FORECAST AREA...EXCEPT IN THE NE. IN ONL TO ANW GROUP THE PROXIMITY TO THE WARM FRONT AND UPSTREAM SURFACE DEWPOINTS IN MID 70S WILL WARRANT KEEPING POPS A BIT HIGHER AT 30 PERCENT. THIS AREA WILL ALSO NEED TO BE WATCHED FOR POTENTIAL HEAVY RAINFALL AS FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE VALUES THERE ARE LOW DUE TO RECENT RAINFALL. ETA HAD BEST RUN TO RUN MODEL CONSISTENCY AND WAS BETTER THAN NGM WITH SURFACE DEWPOINTS. IT ALSO HAD GOOD HANDLE ON VORT MAX AT 18Z MOVING OUT OF SW AND THUS MODEL OF CHOICE. NOT A LOT OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MODELS IN HANDLING OF MAJOR FEATURES. WENT CLOSER TO WARMER FAN TEMPERATURES FOR HIGHS SAT AND SUNDAY WITH OVERNIGHT LOWS CLOSE TO GUIDANCE. EXPECT CAP TO REMAIN STRONG ENOUGH TO LEAVE OUT MENTION OF TSRA SATURDAY AND WILL KEEP FORECAST DRY AND HOT WITH BREEZY CONDITIONS MENTIONED IN MOST ZONES. HOT AND DRY TREND WILL PERSIST SUNDAY WITH SURFACE TROUGH HANGING TOUGH OVER WESTERN NE. IN EXTENDED...93P GUIDANCE NOW HAS HIGHS ONLY IN LOWER 80S FOR MONDAY WITH MRF SHOWING DRY COLD FRONT TO PUSH INTO FORECAST AREA AND WILL CUT HIGHS BACK SOME FOR MONDAY AND ADD CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS FOR WEDNESDAY WITH SHORTWAVE MOVING OVER RIDGE THROUGH AREA. .LBF...NONE. SHEETS
In the hours before
Local storm report, Jul 2, 6:22 PM MDT, 1 hour 21 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
722 PM CDT FRI JUL 2 1999
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0715 PM 5 WNW HAMLET NE 0.75 INCH HAIL
07/02/99 HAYES
FWMLocal storm report, Jul 2, 7:09 PM MDT, 34 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
809 PM CDT FRI JUL 2 1999
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0756 PM 3 SW GRANT NE TORNADO
07/02/99 PERKINS ON GROUND
FWMLocal storm report, Jul 2, 7:09 PM MDT, 34 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
809 PM CDT FRI JUL 2 1999
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0756 PM 3 SW GRANT NE TORNADO
07/02/99 PERKINS ON GROUND
FWMLocal storm report, Jul 2, 7:16 PM MDT, 27 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
816 PM CDT FRI JUL 2 1999
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0750 PM CHAMPION NE WIND DAMAGE
07/02/99 CHASE 12 INCH DIAMETER TREES
DOWN, SHEDS DAMAGED, 60
MPH WIND GUSTS
FWMLocal storm report, Jul 2, 7:43 PM MDT, 0 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
843 PM CDT FRI JUL 2 1999
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0820 PM 10 S SUTHERLAND NE 80 MPH WIND GUST
07/02/99 LINCOLN 80-100 MPH WIND GUST AT
SUTHERLAND POWER PLANT
0820 PM 10 S SUTHERLAND NE 0.75 INCH HAIL
07/02/99 LINCOLN
DPThe office that day
Everything else NWS North Platte, NE issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2, 6:06 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF | Chase, Hayes | 64 min |
| Jul 2, 6:28 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF | Chase | 62 min |
| Jul 2, 6:46 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF | Perkins | 59 min |
| Jul 2, 7:00 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | LBF | Perkins | 50 min |
| Jul 2, 7:09 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF | Lincoln | 61 min |
| Jul 2, 8:15 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF | Custer, Lincoln, Logan | 60 min |
| Jul 2, 8:15 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF | Thomas | 60 min |
| Jul 2, 8:29 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF | Hooker, McPherson | 61 min |
| Jul 2, 8:43 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF | Sheridan | 62 min |
| Jul 2, 9:10 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | LBF | Sheridan | 45 min |
| Jul 2, 9:20 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF | Cherry | 60 min |
| Jul 2, 9:33 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF | Cherry | 62 min |
| Jul 2, 9:56 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | LBF | Cherry | 64 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.