Alert archive / Montana / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Billings, MT

July 5, 2000Powder River County, Montana

NWS Billings, MT issued this tornado warning at Jul 5, 2000, 5:35 PM MDT for Powder River County, Montana. It was in force for 55 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 5, 2000, 5:35 PM MDT (23:35 UTC)
Expired: Jul 5, 2000, 6:30 PM MDT
In force: 55 min
Issued by: NWS Billings, MT
Area: Whole counties

County Powder River County, MT

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 237 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:35 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 5, 5:50 PM MDT	Hail 0.75	Broadus, MT
Jul 5, 6:05 PM MDT	Hail 1.75	Broadus, MT
Jul 5, 6:26 PM MDT	Hail 2.75	Broadus, 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 5, 4:15 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Rapid City, SD (KUNR), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 262 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: 420 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -237 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 668 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 115 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 317 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
WFUS55 KBYZ 052338
TORBIL

MTC075-060030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
535 PM MDT WED JUL 5 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BILLINGS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN POWDER RIVER COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST MONTANA

* UNTIL 630 PM MDT

* AT 535 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 10 MILES NORTHWEST OF EPSIE...OR ABOUT 22 MILES WEST OF    
  BROADUS ALONG US HIGHWAY 212...MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
   BROADUS BY 615 PM MDT.

* A WEATHER SPOTTER 22 MILES WEST OF BROADUS REPORTED TWO FUNNEL CLOUDS
  WITH THIS STORM.

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!

$$
56
LAT...LON 4575 10601 4545 10607 4527 10516 4573 10504

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 4, 6:25 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Fallon	65 min
Jul 4, 6:28 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Carter	62 min
Jul 4, 7:28 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Fallon	62 min
Jul 5, 4:42 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Powder River	63 min
Jul 5, 5:02 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BYZ	Powder River	28 min
Jul 5, 5:34 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Rosebud	56 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Montana, 2000 Every tornado warning in 2000 Tornadoes 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.