Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 1, NWS Billings, MT

April 14, 2002Wheatland County, Montana

NWS Billings, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 14, 2002, 1:33 PM MDT for Wheatland County, Montana. It was in force for 27 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: Apr 14, 2002, 1:33 PM MDT (19:33 UTC)
Expired: Apr 14, 2002, 2:00 PM MDT
In force: 27 min
Issued by: NWS Billings, MT
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Wheatland County, MT

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 117 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:36 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
Apr 14, 1:45 PM MDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60 M	Harlowton, 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 nearest sounding before it

Riverton, WY (KRIW), launched 12:00Z, 7.6 hours before the alert went out and 394 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: 2016 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 88 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 156 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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 Billings, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Apr 14, 9:03 AM MDT, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 14, 9:03 AM MDT, 4 hours 30 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
903 AM MDT SUN APR 14 2002

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR TDY...MON...TUE...
MINOR CHANGES TO ZFP...NO CHANGES TO AFP. CURRENT WATER VAPOR IMAGERY
SHOWING SHORTWAVE ENERGY SWINGING THROUGH PACIFIC NORTHWEST AND INTO
SOUTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ALBERTA. SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWING
ASSOCIATED SURFACE LOW OVER ALBERTA WITH COLD FRONT DROPPING SOUTH INTO
EASTERN WASHINGTON AND OREGON AND LEE SIDE TROUGH BISECTING CWA. AS WAVE
CONTINUES WEST-NORTHWEST TRACK COLD FRONT WILL FLATTEN OUT AS IT HEADS
TOWARD MONTANA...AND BE ORIENTED SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST BY EVENING. AS
FRONT APPROACHES AND TROUGH PULLS OUT WINDS WILL TURN FROM CURRENT
SOUTHEASTERLY DIRECTION OVER MUCH OF CWA TO THE WEST AND SOUTHWEST. WILL
TWEAK WIND WORDING FOR THIS MORNING...WITH STRONGEST WINDS COMING AS
FRONT PASSES. CURRENT FORECAST TEMPS LOOK ON TRACK WITH WARM START AND
COMPRESSIONAL HEATING. SHOULD SEE BREAKS IN CLOUDS THIS AFTERNOON AS
WELL TO HELP WARMING. CONVECTION STILL LOOKS ON TRACK ALONG FRONT...WITH
POSSIBLE GUSTY WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH IT. NEW ETA SLOWING DOWN FRONT.
WILL TWEAK POPS AND WORDING IN BHK AND 4BQ AREAS TO ACCOUNT FOR THIS
TIMING...BUT WILL LEAVE POPS IN BULK OF CWA AS IS. JZ

.LONG TERM...VALID FOR WED...THU...FRI...SAT...
COOL AND UNSETTLED WEATHER LOOKS TO BE SETTING UP BY MID WEEK INTO
THE WEEKEND. LARGE TROUGH STILL PROGGED TO THE WEST OF OUR FORECAST
AREA. MODELS LINE UP WELL FOR WED WITH ITS PLACEMENT OVER WASHINGTON AND
OREGON. BY THURS...DIFFERENCES BEGIN TO SHOW. THE MRF PLACES THE
TROUGH OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES WITH THE UKMET PLACING IT FURTHER
SOUTHWEST. THE ECMWF IS QUITE DIFFERENT AS IT WANTS TO CLOSE THE TROUGH
OFF OVER NEVADA BY FRI WHILE THE MRF QUICKLY MOVES IT OUT ACROSS THE
EASTERN DAKOTAS...BRINGING IN A STRONG NORTHERLY FLOW. IN ADDITION...
THERE LOOKS TO BE A GOOD DEAL OF INSTABILITY ASSOC. WITH THIS WAVE WED
NIGHT INTO THURS. TIME HEIGHTS SHOW A DEEP LAYER OF RH AND NEGATIVE
OMEGA FROM THE SFC TO 300MB...AS WELL AS SFC CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE
ALOFT DURING THAT TIME. HAVE DECIDED TO INCREASE POPS FOR WED NIGHT AND
THURS.

TEMPERATURES WILL ALSO START TO TAKE A DOWNWARD TREND. THICKNESS VALUES
BY WED EVENING WILL BE AROUND 540DAM AND AROUND 525DAM BY FRI MORNING.
WILL HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE ON TEMPS AS SOME OF THE PRECIP COULD BE IN THE
FORM OF SNOW SHOWERS BUT FOR NOW WILL GO WITH RAIN SHOWERS. GUIDANCE
TEMPS...ESPECIALLY THE FMR LOOK TOO WARM AND WILL TREND MORE WITH THE
MEX. BY LATE FRI INTO SAT A NW FLOW ALOFT WILL RETURN WHICH WILL KEEP
TEMPS A BIT COOLER. HOWEVER...THIS FAR OUT WILL NOT CHANGE DAY 6 & 7
TEMPS. HOOLEY

    TDY MON     TUE     WED     THU     FRI     SAT
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 080 037/048 031/050 028/048 028/050 030/055 035/061
    6/N 64/W    42/W    23/E    44/W    22/E    20/B
LVM 075 033/044 029/046 025/047 025/053 032/057 032/059
    7/N 78/O    42/W    23/E    44/W    22/E    20/B
HDN 084 036/050 030/052 026/050 026/050 033/058 033/063
    6/N 64/W    42/W    23/E    44/W    22/E    20/B
MLS 081 037/050 035/052 026/045 026/048 026/053 034/061
    6/N 64/W    42/W    23/E    44/W    22/E    20/B
4BQ 084 038/046 034/050 026/046 026/049 027/054 034/061
    3/N 64/W    73/W    23/E    44/W    22/E    20/B
BHK 080 036/049 033/051 025/044 025/047 025/052 033/059
    6/N 64/W    73/W    23/E    44/W    22/E    20/B
SHR 082 039/048 030/053 027/048 027/050 032/055 032/061
    3/W 67/R    72/W    23/E    44/W    22/E    20/B

.BYZ...NONE.

FXUS65 KBYZ 141504
AFDBIL

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
903 AM MDT SUN APR 14 2002

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR TDY...MON...TUE...
MINOR CHANGES TO ZFP...NO CHANGES TO AFP. CURRENT WATER VAPOR IMAGERY
SHOWING SHORTWAVE ENERGY SWINGING THROUGH PACIFIC NORTHWEST AND INTO
SOUTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ALBERTA. SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWING
ASSOCIATED SURFACE LOW OVER ALBERTA WITH COLD FRONT DROPPING SOUTH INTO
EASTERN WASHINGTON AND OREGON AND LEE SIDE TROUGH BISECTING CWA. AS WAVE
CONTINUES WEST-NORTHWEST TRACK COLD FRONT WILL FLATTEN OUT AS IT HEADS
TOWARD MONTANA...AND BE ORIENTED SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST BY EVENING. AS
FRONT APPROACHES AND TROUGH PULLS OUT WINDS WILL TURN FROM CURRENT
SOUTHEASTERLY DIRECTION OVER MUCH OF CWA TO THE WEST AND SOUTHWEST. WILL
TWEAK WIND WORDING FOR THIS MORNING...WITH STRONGEST WINDS COMING AS
FRONT PASSES. CURRENT FORECAST TEMPS LOOK ON TRACK WITH WARM START AND
COMPRESSIONAL HEATING. SHOULD SEE BREAKS IN CLOUDS THIS AFTERNOON AS
WELL TO HELP WARMING. CONVECTION STILL LOOKS ON TRACK ALONG FRONT...WITH
POSSIBLE GUSTY WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH IT. NEW ETA SLOWING DOWN FRONT.
WILL TWEAK POPS AND WORDING IN BHK AND 4BQ AREAS TO ACCOUNT FOR THIS
TIMING...BUT WILL LEAVE POPS IN BULK OF CWA AS IS. JZ

.LONG TERM...VALID FOR WED...THU...FRI...SAT...
COOL AND UNSETTLED WEATHER LOOKS TO BE SETTING UP BY MID WEEK INTO
THE WEEKEND. LARGE TROUGH STILL PROGGED TO THE WEST OF OUR FORECAST
AREA. MODELS LINE UP WELL FOR WED WITH ITS PLACEMENT OVER WASHINGTON AND
OREGON. BY THURS...DIFFERENCES BEGIN TO SHOW. THE MRF PLACES THE
TROUGH OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES WITH THE UKMET PLACING IT FURTHER
SOUTHWEST. THE ECMWF IS QUITE DIFFERENT AS IT WANTS TO CLOSE THE TROUGH
OFF OVER NEVADA BY FRI WHILE THE MRF QUICKLY MOVES IT OUT ACROSS THE
EASTERN DAKOTAS...BRINGING IN A STRONG NORTHERLY FLOW. IN ADDITION...
THERE LOOKS TO BE A GOOD DEAL OF INSTABILITY ASSOC. WITH THIS WAVE WED
NIGHT INTO THURS. TIME HEIGHTS SHOW A DEEP LAYER OF RH AND NEGATIVE
OMEGA FROM THE SFC TO 300MB...AS WELL AS SFC CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE
ALOFT DURING THAT TIME. HAVE DECIDED TO INCREASE POPS FOR WED NIGHT AND
THURS.

TEMPERATURES WILL ALSO START TO TAKE A DOWNWARD TREND. THICKNESS VALUES
BY WED EVENING WILL BE AROUND 540DAM AND AROUND 525DAM BY FRI MORNING.
WILL HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE ON TEMPS AS SOME OF THE PRECIP COULD BE IN THE
FORM OF SNOW SHOWERS BUT FOR NOW WILL GO WITH RAIN SHOWERS. GUIDANCE
TEMPS...ESPECIALLY THE FMR LOOK TOO WARM AND WILL TREND MORE WITH THE
MEX. BY LATE FRI INTO SAT A NW FLOW ALOFT WILL RETURN WHICH WILL KEEP
TEMPS A BIT COOLER. HOWEVER...THIS FAR OUT WILL NOT CHANGE DAY 6 & 7
TEMPS. HOOLEY

    TDY MON     TUE     WED     THU     FRI     SAT
-------------------------------------------------------
BIL 080 037/048 031/050 028/048 028/050 030/055 035/061
    6/N 64/W    42/W    23/E    44/W    22/E    20/B
LVM 075 033/044 029/046 025/047 025/053 032/057 032/059
    7/N 78/O    42/W    23/E    44/W    22/E    20/B
HDN 084 036/050 030/052 026/050 026/050 033/058 033/063
    6/N 64/W    42/W    23/E    44/W    22/E    20/B
MLS 081 037/050 035/052 026/045 026/048 026/053 034/061
    6/N 64/W    42/W    23/E    44/W    22/E    20/B
4BQ 084 038/046 034/050 026/046 026/049 027/054 034/061
    3/N 64/W    73/W    23/E    44/W    22/E    20/B
BHK 080 036/049 033/051 025/044 025/047 025/052 033/059
    4/N 64/W    73/W    23/E    44/W    22/E    20/B
SHR 082 039/048 030/053 027/048 027/050 032/055 032/061
    3/W 67/R    72/W    23/E    44/W    22/E    20/B

.BYZ...NONE.

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Montana, 2002 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2002

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.