Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2000

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 65, NWS Billings, MT

July 9, 2000Musselshell County, Montana

NWS Billings, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 9, 2000, 3:45 PM MDT for Musselshell County, Montana. It was in force for 60 min. 4 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 9, 2000, 3:45 PM MDT (21:45 UTC)
Expired: Jul 9, 2000, 4:45 PM MDT
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Billings, MT
Area: Whole counties

County Musselshell County, MT

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 73 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:48 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
Jul 9, 3:50 PM MDT	Hail 0.75	Roundup, MT
Jul 9, 3:55 PM MDT	Hail 1	Roundup, MT
Jul 9, 3:56 PM MDT	Hail 1.75	Roundup, MT
Jul 9, 4:45 PM MDT	Hail 1	Melstone, 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
Jul 9, 2:00 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 198 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 192 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -253 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1254 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 87 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.2

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 severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Billings, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 9, 2:30 PM MDT, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 9, 2:30 PM MDT, 1 hour 15 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
154 PM MDT SUN JUL 9 2000

.MON AND TUE...
AVN/ETA SIMILAR THROUGH FIRST 24HRS...THEN DIFFERENCES BEGIN TO BE
NOTICED. AVN SWINGS DEEPER TROUGH WITH STRONGER VORT THROUGH W MT
BRINGING MORE MOISTURE TO THE NE AND E WHILE THE ETA KEEPS A WEAKER
VORT FURTHER NORTH AND BEGINS TO DEVELOP ZONAL FLOW...PRECIP THEN
REMAINS OVER THE NC/NE PORTIONS OF MT. BASED ON PAST PERFORMANCE AND
CONSISTENCY...WILL GO MORE IN LINE WITH THE AVN MODEL BEYOND 24HRS
YET MAKE A COMPROMISE BETWEEN AVN/MESO SINCE AM NOT SURE WHAT WILL
REALLY HAPPEN ON DAY 2. SCT POPS AND WARM TEMPS SEEM TO BE THE TREND
AND WILL NOT STRAY FROM RECENT HISTORY OF AFTN THUNDER AND WARMING
READINGS. SPRINGER

.WED...THU...AND FRI...
EXTENDED MODELS DEFINITELY SHOWING CHANGES TO THIS PATTERN...AND HAVE
BEEN DOING IT FOR A COUPLE OF RUNS NOW. BOTH MRF AND ECMWF BUILD A
STRONG RIDGE INTO THE ROCKIES. 592MB HEIGHT LINE TOUCHES THE SOUTHERN
MONTANA BORDER WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND MORE-OR-LESS STAYS THERE THROUGH
THE END OF THE WEEK. 700MB TEMPERATURES WARM AND THIS COULD CAP THE AREA
OFF FROM ANY THUNDERSTORM CHANCES. SHORTWAVES ARE PROGGED TO MOVE UP AND
OVER THE RIDGE. MONSOONAL MOISTURE WILL BE THE KEY...AND BOTH THE AVN
AND MRF PULLS SOME MOISTURE UP INTO SOUTH CENTRAL MONTANA. THIS COULD
IGNITE AFTERNOON AND EVENING CONVECTION OVER THE MOUNTAINS. WILL KEEP
THE MENTION OF THUNDERSTORMS GOING OVER SOUTH CENTRAL MONTANA BUT CHANGE
THE EAST TO MAINLY DRY WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY. WILL MENTION THE CHANCE OF
STORMS OVER THE SOUTHEAST ON THURSDAY AS STRONG WAVE PROGGED THROUGH THE
AREA...COULD BE ENOUGH TO BREAK THE CAP. HIGHS IN THE 90S A GOOD BET
WITH STRONG RIDGING. HUMPHREY

BIL BTTTT 059/087 059/092 060/094 062/094 060/090 544432 54
LVM BTTTT 054/085 056/090 057/093 057/093 057/089 544332 54
HDN BTTTT 058/088 058/093 059/095 061/095 059/095 544432 54
MLS BTBTB 062/089 062/092 063/094 065/096 063/092 544444 54
4BQ BTBTB 063/088 061/092 061/095 063/095 061/091 544444 54
BHK BTBTB 062/087 060/092 060/094 062/094 060/090 544444 54
SHR BTBTB 055/089 057/093 057/095 059/095 057/091 543333 54

The office that day

Everything else NWS Billings, MT issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 9, 2:41 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Golden Valley, Musselshell	64 min
Jul 9, 2:43 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Wheatland	32 min
Jul 9, 4:09 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Sweet Grass	66 min
Jul 9, 4:42 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Musselshell, Rosebud	63 min
Jul 9, 5:00 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Stillwater	60 min
Jul 9, 5:07 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Rosebud	28 min
Jul 9, 5:40 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Yellowstone	65 min
Jul 9, 5:47 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Rosebud	58 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Montana, 2000 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2000

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.