Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 88, NWS Billings, MT
NWS Billings, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 17, 2002, 8:11 PM MDT for Big Horn County, Montana. It was in force for 59 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 17, 2002, 8:11 PM MDT (02:11 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 17, 2002, 9:10 PM MDT
- In force
- 59 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 02:10 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 17, 8:30 PM MDT | Thunderstorm Wind 65 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 nearest sounding before it
Riverton, WY (KRIW), launched 00:00Z, 2.2 hours before the alert went out and 272 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 799 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -5 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 3088 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -2 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 79 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.1
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 17, 2:30 PM MDT, 5 hours 41 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 17, 2:30 PM MDT, 5 hours 41 minutes before
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BILLINGS MT
230 PM MDT WED JUL 17 2002
.SHORT TERM...VALID FOR THU...FRI...SAT...
MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS OVER THE AREA AGAIN THIS AFTERNOON. BOTH AVN
AND ETA HINTING AT STRONGEST AND MOST WIDESPREAD ACTIVITY TO BE OVER
EAST AND SOUTHERN ZONES. CURRENT RADAR SUGGESTING THIS AS WELL...WITH
MORE SCATTERED ACTIVITY CENTRAL AND WEST. WILL KEEP IN CURRENT POPS AND
KEEP MENTION OF POSSIBLY HEAVY RAIN IN EASTERN ZONES.
THURSDAY...UPPER RIDGE BUILDS INTO AREA AGAIN FOR WARMER TEMPERATURES.
WILL STILL BE UNSTABLE BUT WITH LESS LIFT...SO WILL KEEP RELATIVELY
LOW POPS GOING.
FRIDAY...STRONGER WAVE CONTINUES TO BE FORECASTED TO MOVE INTO WESTERN
MONTANA DURING THE AFTERNOON. TEMP RIDGE POPS BACK UP IN EASTERN ZONES
FOR NEAR 100 DEGREE TEMPS. CLOUDS AND PRECP SHOULD KEEP TEMPS DOWN IN
WESTERN ZONES. WILL UP POPS IN WESTERN ZONES. RASCH
FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY...SHORTWAVE TROUGH PUSHES THROUGH MONTANA
FRIDAY NIGHT WITH ASSOCIATED COOL FRONT AT SURFACE. WITH TRAJECTORY OF
ENERGY BEST SHOT FOR THUNDER APPEARS TO BE IN THE WEST. SATURDAY COOL
FRONT PUSHES INTO DAKOTAS BUT AVN DEVELOPING DECENT INSTABILITY OUT EAST
IN THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. WILL TWEAK POPS FOR BOTH PERIODS
ACCORDINGLY. JZ
.LONG TERM...VALID FOR SUN...MON...TUE...WED...
WEST TO NORTHWEST UPPER FLOW DEVELOPS THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD. SOME
DIFFERENCES ON AMPLITUDE AND POSITION OF UPPER RIDGE OVER THE WEST. MRF
MORE AMPLIFIED WITH RIDGE THUS PUTS MONTANA IN MORE NORTHWEST UPPER
FLOW...WHILE UKMET AND ECMWF KEEPING FLOW MORE ZONAL. IN EITHER CASE
TEMPS SHOULD BE NEAR SEASONAL AVERAGES AS HOT DESERT AIRMASS IS CONFINED
TO THE SOUTHWEST UNITED STATES. SHORTWAVE ENERGY LOOKS TO STAY MAINLY TO
THE NORTH OF THE AREA. AVN RUN SHOWING COOL FRONT PASSAGE BOTH LATE
SUNDAY AND TUESDAY...BUT FOR NOW WILL CONTINUE WITH DRY FORECAST AS
LITTLE UPPER LEVEL SUPPORT EVIDENT. JZ
THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED
-----------------------------------------------------------
BIL 065/092 068/096 064/087 063/088 062/087 060/087 061/085
43/T 34/T 43/T 30/B 00/B 00/B 00/B
LVM 057/094 057/091 056/085 056/085 054/086 053/085 054/085
43/T 34/T 42/T 20/B 00/B 00/B 00/B
HDN 061/094 064/098 065/087 064/089 061/089 059/088 062/086
43/T 33/T 33/T 30/B 00/B 00/B 00/B
MLS 068/096 071/099 066/088 066/088 065/088 062/087 064/085
42/T 23/T 33/T 30/B 00/B 00/B 00/B
4BQ 066/096 069/098 065/088 065/089 063/089 061/087 062/086
43/T 33/T 33/T 30/B 00/B 00/B 00/B
BHK 064/092 067/097 064/085 065/086 063/087 059/085 060/083
42/T 23/T 33/T 30/B 00/B 00/B 00/B
SHR 064/093 067/096 059/087 060/088 058/088 059/087 059/087
43/T 33/T 33/T 30/B 00/B 00/B 00/B
.BYZ...
MT...NONE.
WY...NONE.The office that day
Everything else NWS Billings, MT issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 17, 9:39 PM MDT | Flash Flood Warning | BYZ | Big Horn | 6 hr |
| Jul 18, 12:23 AM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Sheridan | 57 min |
| Jul 18, 12:27 AM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BYZ | Sheridan | 53 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Montana, 2002Every 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.