Alert archive / Montana / Tornado Warnings in 2000
Tornado Warning 1, NWS Billings, MT
NWS Billings, MT issued this tornado warning at Jul 4, 2000, 4:57 PM MDT for Yellowstone County, Montana. It was in force for 33 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
- Jul 4, 2000, 4:57 PM MDT (22:57 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 4, 2000, 5:30 PM MDT
- In force
- 33 min
- Issued by
- NWS Billings, MT
- Area
- Whole counties
County Yellowstone County, MT
The radar
The Billings radar (KBLX), 27 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:01 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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 4, 2:30 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 245 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1642 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 17 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 53 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WFUS55 KBYZ 042258 TORBIL MTC111-042330- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT 457 PM MDT TUE JUL 4 2000 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BILLINGS HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... NORTHEASTERN YELLOWSTONE COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL MONTANA * UNTIL 530 PM MDT * AT 457 PM MDT...SEVERE WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD OVER SHEPARD IN NORTH CENTRAL YELLOWSTONE COUNTY...OR ABOUT 25 MILES NORTHEAST OF BILLINGS...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. * THE TORNADO WILL REMAIN OVER MAINLY RURAL AREAS OF... NORTHERN YELLOWSTONE AND NORTHEASTERN YELLOWSTONE COUNTIES. THIS TORNADO WARNING REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FOR THE SAME AREA. $$ STROBIN
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 Billings, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jul 4, 2:20 PM MDT, 2 hours 37 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 4, 2:20 PM MDT, 2 hours 37 minutes before
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT 220 PM MDT TUE JUL 04 2000 .WED AND THU... LOOKS LIKE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN IN THE FORECAST THROUGH THE PERIOD AS A BROAD SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT REMAINS OVER MONTANA. THE ETA/AVN PROGS THE CLOSED LOW OVER EXTREME SOUTHERN ALBERTA TO MOVE TO THE NORTHEAST WITH A LONGWAVE TROF EXTENDING FROM THE LOW TO NEAR CALIFORNIA. THE MODELS SHOW A SERIES OF SHORTWAVES BEING EJECTED OUT OF THIS TROF OVER THE NEXT 48 HOURS WITH THE FIRST ONE MOVING ACROSS MONTANA TUESDAY AFTERNOON. THE NEXT SHORTWAVE MOVES ACROSS WESTERN MONTANA DURING THE MORNING ON WEDNESDAY...BRINGING ANOTHER CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. THE ETA ALSO INDICATES THE BEST CAPES OVER EXTREME EASTERN MONTANA AT 00Z WED AND MOVES THIS ENERGY EAST TO THE DAKOTAS DURING THE DAY TOMORROW. WITH A SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT AND SHORTWAVES PROGGED TO EXIT THE LONGWAVE TROF ALONG THE CALIFORNIA COAST...I WILL GO WITH 40 POP FOR THUNDER STORMS THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT. I WILL ALSO KEEP 30 A POP FOR ALL ZONES DURING THE DAY ON WED AND THU...EXCEPT FOR LVM WHICH MAY BE INFLUENCED BY THE SHORTWAVE MOVING ACROSS WESTERN MONTANA WHERE I WILL GO WITH A 40 POP. MACHINE TEMPS LOOK REASONABLE SO HAVEN'T STRAYED FAR FROM GUIDANCE. KUHL .FRI...SAT...AND SUN... MODELS SIMILAR IN TREND OF DROPPING AN UPPER LOW OFF THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST FRIDAY THEN WEAKENING AND LIFTING THE LOW NORTHEAST INTO SUNDAY. ECMWF IS THE PREFERRED MODEL FOR POSITION AS MRF WANTS TO RETROGRADE PACIFIC RIDGE TOO MUCH. THE RIDGE SLOWLY BUILDS HEIGHTS OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES THROUGH THE PERIOD WITH TEMPERATURES WARMING. THE DISTURBANCES IN THE FLOW ALOFT WILL AID IN THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE PERIOD AND WILL BROADBRUSH FOR THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD. THORICHT BIL TTBBB 054/083 058/085 057/086 058/089 059/092 514333 58 LVM TTBBB 052/079 055/084 055/084 056/087 058/089 514433 58 HDN TTBBB 054/084 058/087 055/088 057/091 057/093 514333 58 MLS TTBBB 059/085 062/090 060/088 059/090 059/092 514333 58 4BQ TTBBB 058/085 060/089 060/089 060/091 060/093 514333 58 BHK TTBBB 058/084 060/091 059/087 059/088 059/091 514333 58 SHR TTBBB 052/083 054/089 055/087 056/090 056/091 514333 58
The office that day
Everything else NWS Billings, MT issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 3, 8:08 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Custer | 67 min |
| Jul 3, 8:13 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Rosebud, Treasure | 62 min |
| Jul 3, 9:06 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Custer, Fallon | 54 min |
| Jul 4, 12:06 AM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Custer | 54 min |
| Jul 4, 1:51 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Carbon, Stillwater, Yellowstone | 54 min |
| Jul 4, 2:05 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Golden Valley, Musselshell | 55 min |
| Jul 4, 2:52 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Yellowstone | 53 min |
| Jul 4, 3:35 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Rosebud, Treasure | 55 min |
| Jul 4, 3:39 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Yellowstone | 36 min |
| Jul 4, 4:23 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Powder River | 67 min |
| Jul 4, 4:32 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Yellowstone | 43 min |
| Jul 4, 4:33 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Rosebud | 57 min |
| Jul 4, 4:38 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Powder River | 67 min |
| Jul 4, 5:30 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Carter, Powder River | 60 min |
| Jul 4, 5:40 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Custer | 65 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Montana, 2000Every tornado warning in 2000Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.