Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2000

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 83, NWS Great Falls, MT

July 10, 2000Blaine County, Montana

NWS Great Falls, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 10, 2000, 3:47 PM MDT for Blaine County, Montana. It was in force for 58 min. 2 reports 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 10, 2000, 3:47 PM MDT (21:47 UTC)
Expired
Jul 10, 2000, 4:45 PM MDT
In force
58 min
Issued by
NWS Great Falls, MT
Area
Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Blaine County, MT

The radar

The Glasgow radar (KGGW), 182 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:47 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.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jul 10, 4:00 PM MDTHail 0.75Chinook, MT
Jul 10, 4:10 PM MDTHail 1Ft Belknap, 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 10, 1:00 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 167 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, Great_falls, MT at 12:00Z on 2000-07-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 256 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Great_falls, MT at 12:00Z on 2000-07-10The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -9 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
256 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-92 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1535 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-9 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
16 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS55 KTFX 102156 COR
SVRGTF
MTC005-102215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING...CORRECTION EXPIRATION TIME 445 PM
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
347 PM MDT MON JUL 10 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  CENTRAL BLAINE COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA
  THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF CHINOOK AND HARLEM

* UNTIL 445 PM MDT

* AT 338 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 
TWO  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...ONE 12 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CHINOOK...AND 
THE OTHER 2 MILES SOUTHEAST OF FORT BELKNAP. BOTH STORMS ARE MOVING 
EAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR

* THE FIRST STORM WILL BE NEAR CHINOOK AT 430 PM MDT. THE SECOND 
STORM WILL BE NEAR THE EASTERN BORDER OF BLAINE COUNTY 25 MILES 
SOUTH OF TURNER AT 415 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 700 PM MDT MONDAY
EVENING FOR CENTRAL MONTANA. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH ALSO 
REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR EASTERN MONTANA UNTIL 1000 PM MDT MONDAY 
EVENING.

LAT...LON 4862 10946 4833 10944 4833 10846 4877 10837

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 10, 3:15 PM MDT, 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 10, 3:15 PM MDT, 32 minutes before
SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
315 PM MDT MON JUL 10 2000

ON THE SYNOPTIC SCALE MODELS IN LINE WITH ONE ANOTHER IN FORECASTING SW
FLOW ALOFT LATE THIS AFTERNOON TO TRANSITION TO WEAK RIDGE ON TUE AND
THEN TO A LITTLE STRONGER RIDGE ON WED. MODELS NOT INDICATING ANY
SIGNIFICANT SHORTWAVES FOR THE FORECAST AREA OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF
DAYS. FOR TONIGHT...EARLY AFTERNOON SURFACE DATA INDICATING AIRMASS
STILL QUITE UNSTABLE OVER ERN SECTIONS OF THE FORECAST AREA. ALSO WINDS
SHOW SOME CONFLUENCE OVER SRN ZONES AND FERGUS COUNTY. WILL GO WITH
SCATTERED POPS IN THESE AREAS. SPC HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
FOR FERGUS AND BLAINE COUNTIES. ALTHOUGH WOULD BE SURPRISED TO SEE
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER THESE COUNTIES DO NOT DOUBT THERE WILL BE
STORMS WITH SMALL HAIL AND POSSIBLY GUSTY WINDS. FOR TUE WITH WEAK
RIDGING AIRMASS IS FORECAST TO BECOME STABLE EXCEPT IN THE FAR S. IN
THAT AREA WEAK INSTABILITY IS FORECAST AND CAME UP WITH A CAPE OF AROUND
500 JOULES PER KG AT BZN. ETA FORECASTS SOME LOW LEVEL CONFLUENCE OVER
SAME AREA. ALTHOUGH DO NOT SEE ANY SHORTWAVES TO SPEAK OF WILL GO WITH A
SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE FAR SRN ZONES. LOOKING AHEAD TO
WED...ETA FORECASTS AIRMASS TO BECOME MORE UNSTABLE IN THAT REGION WITH
ROUGHLY DOUBLE THE CAPE VALUES. INSTABILITY ALSO IS FORECAST TO SPREAD A
LITTLE FARTHER N. WILL ADD HLN ZONE TO THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS. ALTHOUGH
ETA HAS GTF AND LWT ZONES WITH WEAK INSTABILITY BETTER CONFLUENCE IS
FARTHER S SO AT THIS TIME HAVE ELECTED NOT TO MENTION THUNDERSTORMS IN
GTF AND LWT ZONES. BLANK

EXTENDED...MODELS ARE IN CLOSE AGREEMENT BUILDING UPR RDG OVER INTER
MOUNTAIN RGN WED EVE AND THU...THEN SHIFTING RDG AXIS OVER ERN MT FRI
WITH BACKING FLOW BECOMING MORE PRONOUNCED OVER WRN SECTIONS.
DIFFERENCES OCCUR WITH MOVEMENT OF UPR LOW MOVING THE WRN CANADA.
CURRENT MRF DEEPENING UPR LOW ALONG BC COAST MORE THAN PREVIOUS MRF
RUN... WHILE UKMET AND ECMWF ARE MORE PROGRESSIVE WITH THIS FEATURE.
WILL KEEP WARM TEMPS AND ISOLATED AFTN THRU EVE CONVECTION THU AND
FRI...WITH BETTER CHC DEVELOPING ON SAT. EYSSAUTIER

GTF UU 052/085 052/090 058 041001
CTB UU 048/080 048/084 055 040000
HLN UB 050/086 052/091 058 041002
BZN UB 048/086 048/090 054 043112
WEY BB 040/080 038/084 042 044222
DLN UB 048/084 047/089 054 042112
HVR UU 054/085 054/090 060 042000
LWT UU 052/084 050/089 056 043001

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 9, 6:13 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXJudith Basin47 min
Jul 9, 6:30 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXFergus45 min
Jul 9, 6:58 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXJudith Basin47 min
Jul 9, 7:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXFergus45 min
Jul 10, 4:41 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXTeton34 min
Jul 10, 2:53 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXBlaine52 min
Jul 10, 4:49 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXBlaine31 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.