Alert archive / Montana / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Great Falls, MT

July 8, 2000Lewis and Clark County, Montana

NWS Great Falls, MT issued this tornado warning at Jul 8, 2000, 5:09 PM MDT for Lewis and Clark County, Montana. It was in force for 51 min. No storm report in the archive falls 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.

The facts

Issued: Jul 8, 2000, 5:09 PM MDT (23:09 UTC)
Expired: Jul 8, 2000, 6:00 PM MDT
In force: 51 min
Issued by: NWS Great Falls, MT
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Lewis and Clark County, MT

The radar

The Great Falls radar (KTFX), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:08 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

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 139 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: 2167 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 24 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 162 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.

334 
WFUS55 KTFX 082310
TORGTF
MTC049-090000-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
509 PM MDT SAT JUL 8 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CENTRAL LEWIS AND CLARK COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL MONTANA

* UNTIL 600 PM MDT

* AT 506 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO OVER CENTRAL LEWIS AND CLARK COUNTY...OR ABOUT 10 MILES
  EAST OF LINCOLN...MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...STATE HIGHWAY 200 NEAR ROGERS PASS
 AT 520 PM MDT

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A
WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS
AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING IN AN
INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. USE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO
COVER YOUR BODY AND ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

IF IN MOBILE HOMES OR VEHICLES...EVACUATE THEM AND GET INSIDE A
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE
NEAREST DITCH OR OTHER LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

LAT...LON 4707 11260 4694 11241 4710 11211 4743 11214

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 8, 5:40 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Chouteau	35 min
Jul 8, 5:50 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Cascade	25 min
Jul 8, 5:54 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Cascade	51 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Montana, 2000 Every tornado warning in 2000 Tornadoes 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.