Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2000

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 14, NWS Great Falls, MT

June 15, 2000Cascade County, Teton County, Montana

NWS Great Falls, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 15, 2000, 4:49 PM MDT for Cascade County, Teton County, Montana. It was in force for 26 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Jun 15, 2000, 4:49 PM MDT (22:49 UTC)
Expired: Jun 15, 2000, 5:15 PM MDT
In force: 26 min
Issued by: NWS Great Falls, MT
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Cascade County, MT, Teton County, MT

The radar

The Great Falls radar (KTFX), 18 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:50 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	Remark
Jun 15, 5:00 PM MDT	Hail 0.75	Vaughn, 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 nearest sounding before it

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 66 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 726 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -110 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 80 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.

536 
WUUS55 KTFX 152251
SVRGTF
MTC013-099-152315-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
449 PM MDT THU JUN 15 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN CASCADE COUNTY IN MONTANA
  SOUTHEASTERN TETON COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA

* UNTIL 515 PM MDT

* AT 440 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM 24 MILES NORTH OF TRACY TO 16
  MILES NORTH OF SUN RIVER...OR FROM 57 MILES NORTHWEST OF STANFORD
  TO 52 MILES SOUTH OF SHELBY...MOVING SOUTH AT 25 MPH.

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE NEAR...
  OVER VAUGHN AT 510 PM MDT
  OVER SUN PRAIRIE...6 MILES NORTHEAST OF SIMMS...7 MILES NORTH OF
  ULM...8 MILES NORTH OF TRACY AT 515 PM MDT

HAIL UP TO DIME SIZE 3/4 INCHES IN DIAMETER HAS BEEN REPORTED WITH THIS 
STORM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THE STORM...PUT YOUR CAR IN A 
GARAGE AND MOVE TO A SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER.

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. THEY
WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST
OFFICE IN GREAT FALLS.

LAT...LON 4778 11146 4781 11194 4742 11195 4735 11099
          4753 11094 4761 11145

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 Great Falls, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jun 15, 3:00 PM MDT, 1 hour 49 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 15, 3:00 PM MDT, 1 hour 49 minutes before

SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
300 PM MDT THU JUN 15 2000

PROGS SHOW A MOIST TROUGH IN AREA INTO FRIDAY WITH MAIN VORTICITY
MAXIMUM MOVING SOUTH OUT OF CANADA INTO NORTHEAST MONTANA FRIDAY NIGHT.
WEAK SHORT WAVE RIDGE MOVING INTO WESTERN MONTANA SATURDAY FOR WARMER
TEMPERATURES AND LESS CHANCE OF DIURNAL SHOWERS. AIR MASS MOIST AND A
LITTLE UNSTABLE FOR SHOWERS WITH ISOLATED AFTERNOON AND EVENING
THUNDERSTORMS. OARD

EXTENDED DISCUSSION...MODELS CONTINUE TO BE FAIRLY CONSISTENT IN THE
OVERALL SOLUTION IN THE MEDIUM RANGE. MRF IS A LITTLE MORE AMPLIFIED
WITH THE STRONG SHORTWAVE FOR EARLY NEXT WEEK BUT ALL NOT ENOUGH TO
DEFER FROM THE OVERALL TREND. WEAK SHORTWAVE RIDGING WILL PERSIST FOR
SUNDAY BEFORE THE AFOREMENTIONED SHORTWAVE APPROACHES FOR EARLY NEXT
WEEK. WAVE CRASHES ON SHORE EARLY MONDAY AND SWINGS SOUTHEASTWARD ACROSS
SOUTHERN WYOMING. TROF DEEPENS OVER THE REGION LATE MONDAY SO SHOWERS
LOOK LIKELY AND THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE IN THE INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE
AIRMASS. ANY INSOLATION EARLY MONDAY WILL HELP THINGS ALONG EVEN MORE.
WET WEATHER WILL CONTINUE MONDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY MORNING AS THE
STRONG TROF PULL EAST. AIRMASS DOES DRY OUT LATE TUESDAY AND WILL WORD
AS SUCH. SEASONAL TEMPS FOR SUNDAY WILL BE FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER SHOT OF
COOLER AIR. GOUDSWARD

CCF NUMBERS
GTF TE 040/057 040/065 045 166643
CTB TE 037/055 037/062 042 166643
-
HLN TE 042/060 040/068 046 164643
BZN TE 040/057 038/066 043 165653
WEY TE 033/052 030/062 032 165653
DLN TB 042/060 040/068 045 163642
HVR TE 043/056 043/065 046 166654
LWT TE 038/054 038/062 041 167754

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 15, 5:10 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Chouteau, Judith Basin	35 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.