Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2000
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 73, NWS Great Falls, MT
NWS Great Falls, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 9, 2000, 2:58 PM MDT for Fergus County, Montana. It was in force for 47 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
- Jul 9, 2000, 2:58 PM MDT (20:58 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 9, 2000, 3:45 PM MDT
- In force
- 47 min
- Issued by
- NWS Great Falls, MT
- Area
- Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction
County Fergus County, MT
The radar
The Billings radar (KBLX), 139 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:02 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 9, 3:14 PM MDT | Hail 1.75 | Forestgrove, 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 9, 2:00 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 120 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
- 192 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -253 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1254 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 16 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 87 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.2
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WUUS55 KTFX 092059 SVRGTF MTC027-092145- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 258 PM MDT SUN JUL 9 2000 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... SOUTHERN FERGUS COUNTY IN MONTANA * UNTIL 345 PM MDT * AT 254 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES WEST OF FORESTGROVE...OR ABOUT 13 MILES SOUTHEAST OF LEWISTOWN...MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH. * THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR... FORESTGROVE AT 305 PM MDT REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. THEY WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE IN GREAT FALLS. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM MDT SUNDAY EVENING FOR NORTHWESTERN MONTANA. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH ALSO REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM MDT SUNDAY EVENING FOR NORTHWESTERN MONTANA. LAT...LON 4700 10936 4687 10917 4711 10876 4727 10900
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 Jul 9, 9:30 AM MDT, 5 hours 28 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 9, 9:30 AM MDT, 5 hours 28 minutes before
SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT 930 AM MDT SUN JUL 9 2000 ...UPDATES PLANNED FOR ZONES AND STATE... AT 12Z A VORTICITY CENTER WAS OVER NW MT E OF CONTDVD. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE OVER THE NRN ZONES ASSOCIATED WITH THE FEATURE. ALTHOUGH IT WAS NOT REAL DEFINITE ON WATER VAPOR IMAGERY APPEARED TO BE ANOTHER VORTICITY CENTER OVER SE OREGON. 12Z ETA/NGM INITIALIZATIONS WERE POOR WITH FIRST FEATURE BUT DO NOT APPEAR TOO BAD IN THEIR HANDLING OF THE 2ND FEATURE. THIS FEATURE WILL MOVE INTO CENTRAL MT THIS AFTERNOON. LATEST ETA HAS CENTRAL MT LIFTED INDICES DOWN TO MINUS 7 AT 18Z WITH CAPES ON THE ORDER OF 2000 JOULES/KG. SO WITH COMBINATION OF QUITE UNSTABLE AIRMASS AND SHORTWAVE...CENTRAL/N CENTRAL MT CERTAINLY UNDER THE GUN FOR MORE SEVERE WEATHER THIS AFTERNOON. SPC OUTLOOK AREA LOOKS GOOD. CURRENT FORECAST LOOKS PRETTY GOOD BUT WILL DO SOME NOWCASTING WITH 1ST PERIOD. .EXTENDED... FINALLY A PATTERN CHANGE IS SEEN WHICH SHOULD SPELL WELCOME RELIEF IN THE EXTENDED WITH STRONG RIDGE IN THE MIDDLE PART OF THE NATION POKING NORTHWARD. GRADUAL WARMING IS SEEN BUT SOME CONVECTION CAN NOT BE RULED OUT OVER THE MOUNTAINS. PATTERN CHANGE MAY NOT LAST LONG AS ANOTHER UPPER LOW DIVES ALONG THE PACIFIC COAST TO SET UP THE SW FLOW AGAIN. ONLY A LITTLE TWEAKING TO THE GOING EXTENDED THIS MORNING. BLANK CCF NUMBERS GTF TB 082/052 080/052 084 053332 CTB BB 078/048 077/048 082 053332 HLN TB 082/047 078/052 088 053332 BZN TB 082/045 080/048 083 054432 WEY TB 078/040 075/042 078 054432 DLN TB 082/046 080/048 082 054432 HVR BB 084/050 082/055 084 053332 LWT TB 082/048 080/052 084 054432
The office that day
Everything else NWS Great Falls, MT issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 8, 6:11 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | TFX | Chouteau, Fergus | 64 min |
| Jul 8, 6:16 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Cascade, Chouteau | 44 min |
| Jul 8, 6:41 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Cascade | 49 min |
| Jul 8, 6:51 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Cascade, Chouteau | 54 min |
| Jul 8, 7:12 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | TFX | Fergus | 63 min |
| Jul 8, 7:30 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Cascade, Chouteau | 60 min |
| Jul 8, 7:50 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Judith Basin | 40 min |
| Jul 8, 8:15 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Chouteau, Fergus, Judith Basin | 60 min |
| Jul 8, 8:25 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Blaine, Chouteau | 65 min |
| Jul 8, 9:24 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | TFX | Fergus | 36 min |
| Jul 8, 9:25 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Blaine, Fergus | 50 min |
| Jul 9, 1:25 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Blaine | 65 min |
| Jul 9, 3:45 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Fergus | 45 min |
| Jul 9, 4:57 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Fergus | 48 min |
| Jul 9, 5:11 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TFX | Fergus, Judith Basin | 49 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Montana, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.