Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 78, NWS Omaha, NE

October 9, 2001Boone County, Nebraska

NWS Omaha, NE issued this tornado warning at Oct 9, 2001, 5:17 PM CDT for Boone County, Nebraska. It was in force for 28 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: Oct 9, 2001, 5:17 PM CDT (22:17 UTC)
Expired: Oct 9, 2001, 5:45 PM CDT
In force: 28 min
Issued by: NWS Omaha, NE
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Boone County, NE

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Oct 9, 5:18 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Cedar Rapids, NE	This tornado crossed over from Nance county...southwest of Boone county...one and one half miles east of the western county line. The tornado then traveled 1 mile north before lifting. According to a damage survey from the National Weather Service Hastings,

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
Oct 9, 3:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 154 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: 7 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -233 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 854 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 90 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 123 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.

109 
WFUS53 KOAX 092217
TOROMA
NEC011-092245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA NE
517 PM CDT TUE OCT 9 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  BOONE COUNTY IN NORTHEAST NEBRASKA

* UNTIL 545 PM CDT

* AT 512 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 6 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CEDAR RAPIDS...OR ABOUT 41 MILES NORTH
  OF GRAND ISLAND...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED...
  CEDAR RAPIDS...PRIMROSE
  ALBION

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...GO TO A BASEMENT. IF A BASEMENT
IS NOT AVAILABLE...TAKE COVER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST LEVEL
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS. AVOID WINDOWS.

THIS TORNADO WARNING REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING 
PREVIOUSLY IN EFFECT.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM CDT TUESDAY EVENING
FOR EASTERN NEBRASKA.

LAT...LON 4152 9839 4140 9822 4164 9785 4180 9807

ZAPOTOCNY

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Omaha, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Oct 9, 2:00 PM CDT, 3 hours 17 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 9, 2:00 PM CDT, 3 hours 17 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
200 PM CDT TUE OCT 9 2001

NEAR TERM CONCERN IS RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER THROUGH AT LEAST 06Z.
SURFACE ANALYSIS EARLY THIS AFTN SHOWED A STRONG LOW PRES CENTER
OVER SWRN NE.  DRYLINE EXTENDED SOUTH INTO W TX.  CDFNT STARTING TO
BECOME A BIT MORE DEFINED FROM NWRN MN INTO THE LOW AND THEN
BACK INTO CO.  12Z ETA MODEL MOVES SFC LOW INTO SWRN MN BY 06Z AS
SHORTWAVE ENERGY KICKS OUT.  JET DYNAMICS ARE ALSO PLAYING A PART
IN OUR WEATHER.  UPPER AIR ANALYSIS FROM THIS MORNING SHOWED ONE
JET SEGMENT FROM MT NEWD INTO CANADA...AND ANOTHER OVER THE PNHDL
OF TX.  12Z MODELS HAVE NOT AFFECTIVELY INITIALIZE THE SRN JET
MAX.  18Z 250 MB PROFILER WINDS SHOWED MAX VALUE OF 95 KTS AROUND
HILLSBORO KS.  LATEST SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWED PLENTY OF BREAKS
IN THE CLOUDINESS OVER THE WRN PART OF KS INTO SWRN NE...WITH
TEMPS IN THE 70S TO LOWER 80S.  SATELLITE SHOWS PLENTY OF BREAKS
IN THE CLOUDINESS FROM SWRN NE INTO WRN KS...AND CLOUDS HAVE
BEEN THINNING INTO SOUTH CENTRAL NE INTO NRN KS.  MAIN THREATS
ARE HAIL AND WIND...BUT TORNADOES CAN NOT BE RULED OUT...MAINLY
TO OUR W AND SW.

CDFNT SHOULD MOVE THROUGH MOST OF THE FCST AREA BY 12Z WED...BUT
MAYBE NOT IN FAR SWRN IA.  THREAT OF ANY SIGNIFICANT PCPN SHOULD
ALSO END BY AROUND THAT TIME AS Q VECTOR DIVERGENCE INDICATES
STRONG SUBSIDENCE.  THE BULK OF CLOUD COVER SHOULD BE GONE BY
NOON...BUT SOME 850 MB MOISTURE LINGERS.  WILL KEEP SOME CLOUD
COVER AROUND EARLY...THEN IT SHOULD BE PARTLY SUNNY WITH HIGHS
IN THE UPPER 50S AND LOWER 60S.  CONDITIONS SHOULD BE CLEAR TO
PARTLY CLOUDY IN THE WED NGT TO THU PERIOD...AND WILL NOT DEVIATE
MUCH FROM NGM MOS.

MRF AND ECMWF ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH SPEED OF SHORTWAVE TROF
MOVING INTO THE ROCKIES AND WRN PLAINS BY 12Z FRI...AT LEAST OVER
THE CONUS.  MRF IS A BIT STRONGER/DEEPER...BUT 500 MB PATTERN IS
VERY SIMILAR.  SO...HAVE INCREASED CHANCE OF PCPN FOR FRI.
AGREEMENT REMAINS DECENT INTO THE SAT/SUN TIMEFRAME...AS LONGWAVE
TROUGH BECOMES ESTABLISHED OVER THE NRN AND CNTRL PLAINS.  MRF
REMAINS A BIT STRONGER...AND EVEN STARTS TO DEVELOP A CLOSED LOW
NEAR THE ND/MN BORDER BY 12Z SUN.  DURING THE SAME TIME...ECMWF
HAS A VERY STRONG RIDGE OVER THE ERN PACIFIC INTO CA.  BOTH MODELS
INDICATE AN INCREASE IN WAVE NUMBER BY 12Z MON.  CONFIDENCE OF
4-7 DAY FCST ABOVE AVERAGE TODAY.

.OMA...NONE.
MILLER

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Oct 9, 12:05 PM CDT, 5 hours 12 minutes before

IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034-
042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-092330-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
1205 PM CDT TUE OCT 9 2001

STORM SPOTTER GROUPS IN EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA MAY NEED
TO BE ACTIVATED THIS AFTERNOON OR THIS EVENING.

A SURFACE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS LOCATED NORTHWEST KANSAS AND
EASTERN COLORADO IS FORECAST TO MOVE INTO SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA BY
TONIGHT AND THEN MOVE NORTHEAST INTO NORTHEASTERN NEBRASKA LATER
TONIGHT.  LOW LEVEL MOISTURE HAS BEEN INCREASING OVER CENTRAL AND
EASTERN NEBRASKA.

THE AIR MASS IS UNSTABLE AND WIND SHEAR IS FAVORABLE FOR SOME
SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP.  EARLY THIS AFTERNOON...SOME
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WITH A CHANCE OF LARGE HAIL WILL OCCUR OVER
THE AREA.  BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON...THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD DEVELOP
QUICKLY OVER NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS AND SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA.  WITH
THE FAVORABLE LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR...SOME SUPERCELLS WITH ISOLATED
TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE.  THIS EVENING...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
ACTIVITY SHOULD MOVE NORTHEAST INTO EASTERN NEBRASKA AND WESTERN
IOWA.

SMITH

Local storm report, Oct 9, 1:08 PM CDT, 4 hours 9 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
108 PM CDT TUE OCT 09 2001

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

1155 AM    3 SSE WHITING             IA   .75 INCH HAIL
10/09/01   MONONA                         REPORTED BY PUBLIC.

MILLER

Special weather statement, Oct 9, 4:45 PM CDT, 32 minutes before

IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034-
042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-100500-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
445 PM CDT TUE OCT 9 2001

STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED IN AREAS OF EASTERN
NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA TONIGHT.

A SURFACE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS LOCATED SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA WILL
MOVE INTO SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA BY WEDNESDAY MORNING AND TRAIL A
STRONG COLD FRONT ACROSS THE CENTRAL PLAINS. IN ADDITION A UPPER AIR
DISTURBANCE WILL BE MOVING ACROSS THE PLAINS. THESE FEATURES WILL
INTERACT WITH A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR MASS TO PRODUCE THUNDERSTORMS.

INSTABILITY AND WIND SHEAR ARE FAVORABLE FOR SOME SUPERCELL
THUNDERSTORMS TO FORM.  WITH THE FAVORABLE LOW LEVEL WIND
SHEAR...SOME STORMS COULD GENERATE TORNADOES THIS EVENING...
ESPECIALLY WEST OF A LINE FROM CROFTON TO BEATRICE. OTHERWISE
THUNDERSTORMS WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND
DAMAGING WINDS. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN IS ALSO POSSIBLE.

GW

The office that day

Everything else NWS Omaha, NE issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 9, 11:48 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Burt	42 min
Oct 9, 4:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Boone	64 min
Oct 9, 6:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Platte	30 min
Oct 9, 6:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Boone	24 min
Oct 9, 6:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Platte	46 min
Oct 9, 6:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Boone	33 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 2001 Every tornado warning in 2001 Tornadoes in 2001

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.