Alert archive / Montana / Tornado Warnings in 1999
Tornado Warning 7, NWS Great Falls, MT
NWS Great Falls, MT issued this tornado warning at Aug 14, 1999, 7:54 PM MDT for Fergus County, Montana. It was in force for 66 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.
The facts
- Issued
- Aug 14, 1999, 7:54 PM MDT (01:54 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 14, 1999, 9:00 PM MDT
- In force
- 66 min
- Issued by
- NWS Great Falls, MT
- Area
- Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction
County Fergus County, MT
The radar
The Billings radar (KBLX), 148 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:54 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 14, 8:15 PM MDT | Tornado F0 | Lewistown, MT |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 14, 4:15 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 00:00Z, 1.9 hours before the alert went out and 116 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
- 13 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -177 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1802 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 61 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 60 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 225 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KTFX 150158 RRA TORGTF MTC027-150300- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 754 PM MDT SAT AUG 14 1999 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS IS CONTINUING THE. * TORNADO WARNING FOR... CENTRAL FERGUS COUNTY IN MONTANA. THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF LEWISTOWN. * UNTIL 900 PM MDT. * AT 748 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO 2 MILES NORTHWEST OF LEWISTOWN...MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH. THIS STORM HAS HAD A LONG HISTORY OF PRODUCING A TORNDAO AND VERY LARGE HAIL. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS. THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING IN AN INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. USE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO COVER YOUR BODY AND ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. IF IN MOBILE HOMES OR VEHICLES...EVACUATE THEM AND GET INSIDE A SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE NEAREST DITCH OR OTHER LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM MDT SATURDAY EVENING FOR MONTANA. LAT...LON 4718 10948 4700 10946 4704 10862 4726 10865 $$ BRUSDA
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 Great Falls, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Aug 14, 2:45 PM MDT, 5 hours 9 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 14, 2:45 PM MDT, 5 hours 9 minutes before
SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 245 PM MDT SAT AUG 14 1999 12Z MDL DATA SLOW TO ARRIVE. NGM AND AVN FAIRLY SIMILAR WITH MOST DETAILS OF UPR TROF MOVG E. SAT IMAGERY INDICATES UPR LOW OVR XTRM ERN WA ATTM WITH A FAIRLY WELL DEFINED MSTR PLUME THRU N-CNTRL ID AND WRN MT. SOME CNVTV ACTVTY ALRDY KICKING OFF OVR SW MT BUT TSTMS HAVE BEEN WEAK. WL LEAVE HIGHEST POPS TGNT FOR SW AND NW PORTION OF CWA AND THEN GO WITH HIGH POPS ACRS N-CNTRL MT SUN. AVN HAS WLY FLOW OVR CWA BY SUN NGT WITH ANOTHER S/WV DROPPING INTO NW MT MON. COOLER AIR FOR SUN WITH A SLGT WRMG MON. EMANUEL GTF 5512 HLN 6423 HVR 5632
The office that day
Everything else NWS Great Falls, MT issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 14, 6:17 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Fergus | 43 min |
| Aug 14, 6:22 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Fergus | 53 min |
| Aug 14, 6:37 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | TFX | Fergus | 33 min |
| Aug 14, 6:55 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Judith Basin | 50 min |
| Aug 14, 7:12 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | TFX | Judith Basin | 33 min |
| Aug 14, 7:17 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Fergus | 28 min |
| Aug 14, 7:35 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | TFX | Fergus, Judith Basin | 25 min |
| Aug 14, 10:22 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Fergus | 38 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Montana, 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.