Alert archive / Montana / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Billings, MT

July 5, 2000Powder River County, Montana

NWS Billings, MT issued this tornado warning at Jul 5, 2000, 6:27 PM MDT for Powder River County, Montana. It was in force for 63 min. 2 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, 6:27 PM MDT (00:27 UTC)
Expired
Jul 5, 2000, 7:30 PM MDT
In force
63 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 00:28 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jul 5, 7:04 PM MDTTornado F0Broadus, MTNWS post storm ground survey confirmed an F0 (winds 42-72 mph) tornado 5 miles north of Epsie, or about 10 miles northwest of Broadus. The tornado was on the ground for 1 minute. The path of the tornado was 1/2 mile long and 50 yards wide. The tornado remained
Jul 5, 7:10 PM MDTHail 2.75Broadus, 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Jul 5, 4:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Rapid City, SD (KUNR), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 2000-07-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1824 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 2000-07-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -28 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1824 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1845 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
73 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

699 
WFUS55 KBYZ 060031
TORBIL
MTC075-060130-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BILLINGS HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 730 PM MDT

* AT 630 PM MDT...SEVERE WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO 2 MILES
  WEST OF OLIVE...OR ABOUT 11 MILES NORTHWEST OF BROADUS...MOVING
  EAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
   BROADUS BY 645 PM MDT.

* THIS STORM ALSO HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING BASEBALL SIZED HAIL.

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

THIS TORNODO WARNING REPLACES THE EALIER TORNADO WARNING FOR POWDER 
RIVER COUNTY.

$$

LAT...LON 4577 10578 4535 10582 4541 10503 4577 10503

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 5, 7:31 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBYZCuster, Powder River59 min
Jul 5, 9:29 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBYZCarter, Fallon61 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.