Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 83, NWS Billings, MT

July 16, 2002Big Horn County, Montana

NWS Billings, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 16, 2002, 6:47 PM MDT for Big Horn County, Montana. It was in force for 58 min. 2 reports 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 16, 2002, 6:47 PM MDT (00:47 UTC)
Expired: Jul 16, 2002, 7:45 PM MDT
In force: 58 min
Issued by: NWS Billings, MT
Area: Whole counties

County Big Horn County, MT

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 99 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:48 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
Jul 16, 7:02 PM MDT	Hail 0.75	Crow Agency, MT
Jul 16, 7:02 PM MDT	Thunderstorm Wind 70 E	Crow Agency, 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jul 16, 5:45 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Glasgow Intl Airport, MT (KGGW), launched 00:00Z, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 318 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: 396 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -137 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2378 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 79 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 98 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.5

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 Jul 16, 2:26 PM MDT, 4 hours 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 16, 2:26 PM MDT, 4 hours 21 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
226 PM MDT TUE JUL 16 2002

.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR WED...THU...FRI...

ACTIVE AND MOIST SOUTHWEST FLOW AT MID LEVEL TONIGHT. FAIRLY DEEP
EASTERLY FLOW ACROSS THE AREA TODAY ALLOWING DEWPOINTS TO REMAIN IN
UPPER 50S MOST AREAS...WITH 60S IN SOUTHEAST ZONES. EXPECT ACTIVITY TO
FIRE IN SOUTHWEST ZONES THIS AFTERNOON AND MOVE TO THE NORTHEAST NORTH
OF +12C 700 MB ISOTHERM...SIMILAR TO LAST NIGHTS. WILL KEEP CHANCE OF
SEVERE IN TONIGHT WITH SURFACE BASED CONVECTION TAPPING INTO CAPES
AROUND 2000 J/KG.

WEDNESDAY...BOTH ETA AND AVN DRAGGING COOLER AIR AT LOW AND MID LEVELS
INTO SOUTHERN MONTANA. INSTABILITY STILL AROUND AS MOISTURE GETS
WRAPPED AROUND BACK SIDE OF LOW PRESSURE CURRENTLY IN S.D. RIDGE GETS
FLATTEN A BIT TOMORROW WHICH ACTUALLY TURNS MID LEVEL WINDS MORE
WESTERLY. THIS SHOULD SHUNT SUB-TROPICAL MOISTURE FETCH FURTHER SOUTH
INTO WYOMING. NOT MUCH CAP TOMORROW SO WILL BLANKET AREA WITH 20 TO 30
PERCENT CHANCES...HIGHEST IN THE SOUTH. TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE WARM BUT
COOLER THAN TODAY.

THURSDAY...UPPER RIDGE REBOUNDS A BIT WITH MORE SOUTHWEST FLOW INTO
SOUTHWEST ZONES. HOWEVER...MAIN MOISTURE REMAINS SOUTH IN WYOMING.
AGAIN WILL TREND POPS NORTH-SOUTH ACROSS AREA. DIMPLE IN TEMPERATURE
FIELDS REMAINS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN ZONES...WITH TEMPERATURES A FEW
DEGREES WARMER. TEMPERATURE RIDGE DOES REBOUND IN WESTERN ZONES. RASCH

FRIDAY...UPPER RIDGE BEGINS TO BUILD AHEAD OF LIFTING WEST COAST TROUGH
PER NEWER AVN RUNS. WILL BUMP TEMPS UP A FEW DEGREES WITH WARMING
OCCURRING UNDER BUILDING RIDGE. WITH RIDGE AXIS OVER WESTERN DAKOTAS
BEST INSTABILITY WILL BE IN PLACE OVER THE WEST...WITH SHORTWAVE
APPROACHING BY 00Z...SO WILL TRIM BACK POPS TO INCLUDE WESTERN ZONES
ONLY ATTM. JZ

.LONG TERM...VALID FOR SAT...SUN...MON...TUE...

UPPER TROUGH CURRENTLY OVER WEST COAST PROGGED TO LIFT OVER THE RIDGE
FOR THE WEEKEND. THIS BRINGS SUBSTANTIAL SHORTWAVE ENERGY ACROSS THE
AREA LATE FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY. WILL BACK TEMPS OFF A FEW DEGREES FOR
SATURDAY WITH TROUGH BREAKING DOWN RIDGE AND INTRODUCE CHANCE OF
STORMS...WITH ENERGY ALOFT AND LOWER LEVEL INSTABILITY IN PLACE. THE
REST OF THE EXTENDED WILL BE MAINLY DRY AS FLOW SHIFTS FROM THE
SOUTHWEST TO MORE WEST/NORTHWEST. SOME ENERGY MOVING THROUGH FLOW MAY
SET OFF A FEW STORMS DURING THE PERIOD BUT NOT ENOUGH TO WARRANT
MENTION...WITH TEMPS AROUND OR SLIGHTLY ABOVE SEASONAL AVERAGES. JZ

    WED     THU     FRI     SAT     SUN     MON     TUE
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 065/089 063/089 063/091 064/087 063/090 063/087 063/087
    63/T    32/T    22/C    33/T    30/B    00/B    00/B
LVM 058/087 056/091 057/088 056/085 056/089 056/086 056/085
    63/T    33/T    33/T    33/T    30/B    00/B    00/B
HDN 063/091 061/092 063/093 065/087 064/092 064/089 064/088
    63/T    32/T    20/B    33/T    30/B    00/B    00/B
MLS 070/091 068/092 065/094 066/088 066/091 066/088 066/087
    62/T    22/T    20/B    33/T    30/B    00/B    00/B
4BQ 068/092 066/093 064/094 065/088 065/092 064/089 065/087
    23/T    33/T    30/B    33/T    30/B    00/B    00/B
BHK 066/090 064/091 064/090 064/085 065/090 063/087 063/085
    32/T    22/T    20/B    33/T    30/B    00/B    00/B
SHR 066/091 064/092 060/090 059/087 060/091 060/088 061/087
    43/T    34/T    40/B    33/T    30/B    00/B    00/B

.BYZ...
MT...NONE.
WY...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 16, 1:21 PM MDT, 5 hours 26 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS, MT
121 PM MDT TUE JUL 16 2002

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

0545 PM    MC LEOD                   MT   60 MPH WIND GUST
07/15/02   SWEET GRASS

0915 PM    10  W SUMATRA             MT   1.75 INCH HAIL
07/15/02   ROSEBUD

JZ

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 16, 6:17 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Musselshell, Yellowstone	58 min
Jul 16, 7:22 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Rosebud, Treasure	53 min
Jul 16, 10:01 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Custer	59 min
Jul 16, 10:09 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Powder River	51 min
Jul 16, 11:08 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BYZ	Custer	52 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.