Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 113, NWS Billings, MT

August 4, 2002Powder River County, Montana

NWS Billings, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 4, 2002, 8:24 PM MDT for Powder River County, Montana. It was in force for 66 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 4, 2002, 8:24 PM MDT (02:24 UTC)
Expired: Aug 4, 2002, 9:30 PM MDT
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Billings, MT
Area: Whole counties

County Powder River County, MT

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 237 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:23 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Aug 4, 4:20 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Rapid City, SD (KUNR), launched 00:00Z, 2.4 hours before the alert went out and 262 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: 126 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -217 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 600 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 71 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 122 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.

324 
WUUS55 KBYZ 050224
SVRBYZ
MTC075-050330-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
823 PM MDT SUN AUG 4 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BILLINGS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  CENTRAL POWDER RIVER COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST MONTANA

* UNTIL 930 PM MDT

* AT 823 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH LARGE HAIL 11 MILES NORTHWEST OF OLIVE...
  OR ABOUT 19 MILES NORTHWEST OF BROADUS...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL REMAIN OVER MAINLY RURAL AREAS OF...  
  NORTHERN POWDER RIVER COUNTY.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.

$$

LAT...LON 4574 10584 4555 10587 4546 10508 4569 10509

RICHMOND

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 Aug 4, 8:23 PM MDT, 1 minute earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 4, 8:23 PM MDT, 1 minute before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
823 PM MDT SUN AUG 04 2002

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR MON...TUE...WED...
UPDATE TO ZFP AND AFP COMING.

ISOLATED SEVERE STORMS STILL DEVELOPING IN WATCH AREA IN THE EAST.
STORMS HAVING A HARD TIME GETTING FARTHER EAST THAN CUSTER/POWDER RIVER
COUNTIES AS AIRMASS VERY STABLE EXTREME EAST. DRIER AIR IS WORKING INTO
WESTERN ZONES AS SHORTWAVE PASSES TO THE NORTH OF ZONES. WILL TRIM
BACK POPS MOST ZONES AND REMOVE SEVERE WORDING EXCEPT FOR A FEW EASTERN
ZONES IN WATCH. EASTERN ZONES MAY SEE ACTIVITY LINGER WELL PAST MIDNIGHT
ALONG BOUNDARY. HAVE MADE A FEW TWEAKS TO WINDS AND TEMPS LOOK GOOD.
SCARLETT

.LONG TERM...VALID FOR THU...FRI...SAT...SUN...
EXTENDED MODEL SOLUTIONS DIFFER COMPARED TO YESTERDAY. PROBLEMS STEM
FROM TIMING AND DEPTH OF UPPER TROUGH CURRENTLY OFF THE NORTHWEST COAST.
INSTEAD OF THE TROUGH KICKING NORTHEAST AND ZONAL FLOW DEVELOPING ON
FRIDAY...THE TROUGH CLOSES OFF WITH THE LOW NOT EXITING THE EAST UNTIL
SATURDAY MORNING. THE LATEST AVN WAS STAYING WITH THIS THEME AND IN FACT
MOVING THINGS EVEN SLOWER WITH THE CLOSED LOW FARTHER SOUTH. FLOW DOES
TURN ZONAL...BUT NOT UNTIL SUNDAY. MIDNIGHT CREW INSERTING POPS ON
THURSDAY LOOKS GOOD...AND WILL NEED TO STRETCH POPS INTO FRIDAY AS WELL.
THE ABOVE MENTIONED SCENARIO WOULD ALSO LEAD TO COOLER WEATHER FRIDAY
INTO SATURDAY THEN CURRENT FORECAST HOLDS. HUMPHREY

    MON     TUE     WED     THU     FRI     SAT     SUN
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 056/091 062/093 059/087 055/085 052/081 052/084 055/086
    22/T    20/U    02/T    33/T    33/T    30/B    00/U
LVM 052/088 055/086 051/082 049/081 047/077 047/082 050/084
    22/T    20/U    02/T    33/T    33/T    30/B    00/U
HDN 057/093 060/094 057/090 055/087 050/082 050/085 053/087
    20/G    00/G    02/T    33/T    33/T    30/B    00/U
MLS 063/094 065/092 062/093 058/088 055/082 055/085 058/087
    33/T    42/T    22/T    33/T    33/T    30/B    00/U
4BQ 061/095 063/095 061/093 057/088 055/082 055/085 058/087
    32/T    30/G    02/T    33/T    33/T    30/B    00/U
BHK 064/090 064/090 059/091 056/087 053/081 053/084 056/086
    23/T    42/T    22/T    33/T    33/T    30/B    00/U
SHR 058/094 058/094 055/089 051/086 047/081 047/085 050/087
    20/G    00/U    02/T    33/T    33/T    30/B    00/U

.BYZ...
MT...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH SE MT UNTIL 10 PM MDT.
WY...NONE.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 4, 8:00 PM MDT, 24 minutes before

MTZ028-029-034-035-038>042-056-057-050300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
800 PM MDT SUN AUG 4 2002

...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM MDT FOR
GOLDEN VALLEY...MUSSELSHELL...WHEATLAND...YELLOWSTONE...SWEET
GRASS...PARK...STILLWATER...CARBON AND BIG HORN COUNTIES HAS BEEN
ALLOWED TO EXPIRE...

THE THREAT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DIMINISHED. THEREFORE...THE
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH HAS BEEN ALLOWED TO EXPIRE.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 4, 6:17 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Wheatland	58 min
Aug 4, 6:18 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Custer	57 min
Aug 4, 6:59 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Powder River	61 min

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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.