Alert archive / Oregon / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2000

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Pendleton, OR

May 15, 2000Wheeler County, Oregon

NWS Pendleton, OR issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 15, 2000, 6:47 PM PDT for Wheeler County, Oregon. It was in force for 48 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
May 15, 2000, 6:47 PM PDT (01:47 UTC)
Expired
May 15, 2000, 7:35 PM PDT
In force
48 min
Issued by
NWS Pendleton, OR
Area
Whole counties

County Wheeler County, OR

The radar

The Pendleton radar (KPDT), 141 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:47 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 nearest sounding before it

Salem/Mcnary, OR (KSLE), launched 00:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 235 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, Salem/Mcnary, OR at 00:00Z on 2000-05-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Salem/Mcnary, OR at 00:00Z on 2000-05-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -17 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1579 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-17 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
78 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

737 
WUUS56 KPDT 160147
SVRPDT
ORC069-160235-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
647 PM PDT MON MAY 15 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PENDLETON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN WHEELER IN CENTRAL OREGON

* UNTIL 735 PM PDT

* AT 646 PM PDT... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 12
  MILES SOUTHEAST OF FOSSIL OR 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF SERVICE
  CREEK... MOVING NORTHWEST AT 15 MPH.

LARGE HAIL IS INDICATED WITH THIS STORM. THIS STORM IS EXPECTED TO
REMAIN IN RURAL AREAS.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM STAY INDOORS AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

DI/MJB

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 Pendleton, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 15, 2:30 PM PDT, 4 hours 17 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 15, 2:30 PM PDT, 4 hours 17 minutes before
NORTHEAST OREGON/SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
230 PM PDT MON MAY 15 2000

MAIN CONCERN IS EVENING THUNDERSTORMS.  ATMOSPHERE UNSTABLE WITH
LIFT INDEX NEAR -4...CAPE 800-1000 AND COOLING ALOFT WITH 500 MB
TEMPS NEAR -22C.  HOWEVER...MOISTURE CONVERGENCE CENTERED TO OUR
SOUTH MAY LIMIT AVAILABLE MOISTURE AND UPPER JET HAS MOVED TO OUR
EAST DECREASING UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS.  WEAK IMPULSES ROTATING AROUND
UPPER LOW CURRENTLY CENTERED 38N/127W WILL HELP TRIGGER THUNDERSTORM
DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE EVENING.  EXPECTED SLOW MOVEMENT OF STORMS
MAY ALLOW FOR HIGHER PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS THAN WOULD NORMALLY BE
EXPECTED.   THUNDERSTORMS WILL DIE OUT WITH SUNDOWN.  THEN...UPPER
LOW WILL MOVE SLOWLY EASTWARD AND TRACK ACROSS CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
TONIGHT...THEN NORTHEAST OVER NEVADA INTO SOUTHEAST IDAHO FOR
TUEADAY.  WRAP AROUND CLOUDS WILL AFFECT THE EASTERN PART OF THE
FORECAST AREA ON TUESDAY WITH SOME LINGER SHOWERS POSSIBLE EXTREME
EAST.  RIDGING OVER THE WESTERN SECTION WILL PROVIDE DRY
CONDITIONS.  RIDGE TO DOMINATE WEATHER PATTERN ON WEDNESDAY
THROUGHOUT AREA.

EXTENDED...RIDGE WILL MAINTAIN CONTROL OVER REGION THROUGH FRIDAY
WITH FLOW BECOMING MORE ZONAL ON SATURDAY.  MINOR DISTURBANCE MOVING
THROUGH UPPER FLOW WILL GENERATE OCCASIONAL CLOUDS BUT CONDITIONS TO
REMAIN DRY THROUGH PERIOD.  MJB.

PDT 4100  ALW 4100  PSC 4100  YKM 4100

.KPDT...WSR-88D...VCP21/CSR21...OPERATIONAL.

.KPDT...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 15, 5:24 PM PDT, 1 hour 23 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OREGON
524 PM PDT MON MAY 15 2000

TIME(PST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0415 PM    UNION                     OR   .75 INCH HAIL
05/15/00   UNION                          REPORTED BY STORM
                                          SPOTTER.  PENNY-SIZED
                                          HAIL REPORTED. (U=NION-2H)
Local storm report, May 15, 6:19 PM PDT, 28 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OREGON
619 PM PDT MON MAY 15 2000

TIME(PDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0545 PM    1-2 N ZILLAH              WA   TORNADO
05/15/00   YAKIMA                         EVENT DURATION 10-15
                                          MINUTES. TORNADO REPORTED                                           ON THE GROUND NORTH OF                                           ZILLAH BY LAW ENFORCEMENT                                           OFFICIAL. NO KNOWN DAMAGE                                           AT THIS TIME.
Local storm report, May 15, 6:19 PM PDT, 28 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...COR
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OREGON
619 PM PDT MON MAY 15 2000

TIME(PDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0545 PM    1-2 N ZILLAH              WA   TORNADO
05/15/00   YAKIMA                         EVENT DURATION 10-15
                                          MINUTES. TORNADO REPORTED
                                          ON THE GROUND BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT JUST NORTH OF
                                          ZILLAH. NO DAMAGE KNOWN
                                          AT THIS TIME.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Pendleton, OR issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 5:11 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPDTUnion49 min
May 15, 5:45 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPDTWheeler65 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Oregon, 2000Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.