Alert archive / Washington / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2001

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 28, NWS Pendleton, OR

July 12, 2001Umatilla County, Oregon; Benton County, Walla Walla County, Washington

NWS Pendleton, OR issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 12, 2001, 7:13 PM PDT for Umatilla County, Oregon; Benton County, Walla Walla County, Washington. It was in force for 62 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
Jul 12, 2001, 7:13 PM PDT (02:13 UTC)
Expired
Jul 12, 2001, 8:15 PM PDT
In force
62 min
Issued by
NWS Pendleton, OR
Area
Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Umatilla County, OR, Benton County, WA, Walla Walla County, WA

The radar

The Pendleton radar (KPDT), 37 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:13 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 12, 8:00 PM PDTThunderstorm Wind 52 MRichland, WAA wind gust of 60 mph was measured at one of the observing sites on the Hanford Reservation.

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

Spokane, WA (KOTX), launched 00:00Z, 2.2 hours before the alert went out and 267 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, Spokane, WA at 00:00Z on 2001-07-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 408 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, Spokane, WA at 00:00Z on 2001-07-13The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 4 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
408 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-16 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2357 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
60 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 Pendleton, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 12, 2:20 PM PDT, 4 hours 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 12, 2:20 PM PDT, 4 hours 53 minutes before
NORTHEAST OREGON/SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
220 PM PDT THU JUL 12 2001

ANOTHER ACTIVE NIGHT IS ON TAP FOR THE FORECAST AREA TONIGHT. TWO
FEATURES WILL BRING CONVECTIVE WEATHER TO THE FORECAST AREA. THE
UPPER LOW OVER SOUTHEAST OREGON WILL PROVIDE LOW LEVEL UPSLOPE FLOW
TO THE EAST SLOPES OF THE WASHINGTON CASCADES. THIS LOCATION IS
ALREADY UNSTABLE...HAVING HAD SOME SHOWERS EARLIER TODAY...AND
CUMULUS CLOUDS ALREADY DEVELOPING AT THIS TIME. THE SECOND WAVE...
WHICH IS NOT HANDLED WELL BY ANY OF THE MODELS...IS QUICKLY MAKING
ITS WAY NORTHEAST TOWARD OREGON. THE IR AND WATER VAPOR BOTH SHOW
GOOD CONVECTION ON THE FRONT END OF THIS WAVE OVER NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA. THIS SECOND FEATURE WILL REACH THE OCHOCO MOUNTAINS AND
JOHN DAY HIGHLANDS NEAR 00Z AND BE NEAR THE FOOTHILLS AND THE
WALLOWAS BETWEEN 03-05Z. THIS WILL KEEP CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY IN THE
EASTERN ZONES GOING THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. WITH THE
INSTABILITY PARAMETERS AS HIGH AS THEY ARE FROM CENTRAL OREGON
THROUGH NORTHEAST OREGON...EXPECT SOME MARGINALLY SEVERE STORMS. SPC
HAS PUT CENTRAL AND EASTERN OREGON IN THE SLIGHT RISK AREA FOR
TODAY. AN UPPER TROUGH WILL SLOWLY APPROACH THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST BY
THE END OF THE SHORT TERM AS THE UPPER RIDGE OVER THE SOUTHWEST US
BEGINS TO SHIFT EAST. SINCE THE TROUGH TAKES ITS TIME APPROACHING
THE COAST...A STRONG MARINE PUSH IS NOT EVIDENT. HOWEVER EXPECT WEAK
LITTLE WAVES OF COOLER MARINE AIR TO MOVE THROUGH THE FORECAST AREA
STARTING FRIDAY EVENING. WITH THE SOUTHWEST FLOW APPROACHING...THE
UNSTABLE AIR WILL SHIFT EVER SO SLOWLY EAST AND SOUTH OVER THE NEXT
36-48 HOURS. THIS WILL RELEGATE THE THUNDERSTORM THREAT TO MAINLY
OVER THE WALLOWAS...JOHN DAY HIGHLANDS AND BAKER COUNTY BY SATURDAY.
TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN PERSISTENT FOR ONE MORE DAY...THEN COOL
SLIGHTLY SATURDAY. THINK GUIDANCE IS A BIT TOO LOW FOR SATURDAY...SO
HAVE ADJUSTED ACCORDINGLY. MEAD

IN THE EXTENDED...AS THE UPPER LEVEL PATTERN SHIFTS EAST THIS
WEEKEND...THE UPPER TROUGH IN THE GULF OF ALASKA WILL SHIFT INTO THE
PACNW BY MONDAY. THUS CONDITIONS WILL REMAIN UNSETTLED...BUT WILL BE
10 TO 15 DEGREES COOLER AS MARINE AIR SETTLES OVER THE AREA. THIS
MOIST MARINE AIR SHOULD REDUCE THE INSTABILITY ACROSS THE AREA...
AND ONLY EXPECT SHOWERY PRECIP WITH NO THUNDERSTORMS. GKH

PDT 5221  ALW 5221  PSC 2110  YKM 3100

.KPDT...WSR-88D...VCP21/CSR21...OPERATIONAL.

.KPDT...NONE.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Pendleton, OR issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 12, 6:35 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPDTMorrow, Umatilla40 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Washington, 2001Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Oregon, 2001Every severe thunderstorm warning 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.