Alert archive / Nebraska / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 19, NWS Hastings, NE

May 5, 2002Merrick County, Nebraska

NWS Hastings, NE issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 5, 2002, 6:01 PM CDT for Merrick County, Nebraska. It was in force for 59 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 5, 2002, 6:01 PM CDT (23:01 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 2002, 7:00 PM CDT
In force: 59 min
Issued by: NWS Hastings, NE
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Merrick County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 105 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:02 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
May 5, 6:10 PM CDT	Hail 2.5	Central City, NE

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.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 5, 4:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 140 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: 1239 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 242 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 208 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.

000 
WUUS53 KGID 052301
SVRGRI
NEC121-060000-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
601 PM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  MERRICK COUNTY IN CENTRAL NEBRASKA

* UNTIL 700 PM CDT

* AT 558 PM CDT...TRAINED WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A SEVERE   
  THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY LARGE HAIL 11 MILES SOUTHWEST OF 
  CHAPMAN...OR ABOUT 5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF GRAND ISLAND...MOVING 
  NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  CHAPMAN AT 615 PM CDT
  ARCHER AT 625 PM CDT
  CENTRAL CITY AT 630 PM CDT
  CLARKS AT 645 PM CDT
  SILVER CREEK AT 700 PM CDT

PEOPLE IN MERRICK COUNTY SHOULD SEEK SHELTER IN A STURDY STRUCTURE
AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

THE PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER THREAT IS LARGE HAIL THE SIZE OF GOLFBALL 
OR LARGER.

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND
OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO WARNING.

LAT...LON 4126 9830 4090 9828 4133 9760 4134 9773

NNNN

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 Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 5, 3:12 PM CDT, 2 hours 49 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 5, 3:12 PM CDT, 2 hours 49 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
312 PM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002

...MAIN CONCERN IS TORNADO WATCH IN KANSAS CWA UNTIL 9 PM TONIGHT...

LATEST SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWING LOW PRESSURE CENTER NEAR NE SD.
SOUTHERLY WINDS HAVE CONTINUES TO PUMP UP SURFACE MOISTURE INTO
THE REGION WITH DEW POINTS ACROSS KS PUSHING INTO THE 60S. AN SPC
CONFERENCE CALL HAS ELUDED TO A CONCERN FOR TORNADIC SUPERCELLS
DEVELOPING IN THE EARLY EVENING AS CONVECTION BECOMES BETTER
ORGANIZED. VIS SATL PIX ALREADY SHOW STUFF STARTING TO BLOSSOM IN
SW KS. PROGGED ETA BRN SHEAR...AS WELL AS VGP AND EHI THIS EVENING DO
LOOK IMPRESSIVE FOR SUSTAINING A SHEARING ENVIRONMENT ALLOWING STORMS
TO DEVELOP A FEW MESOS. WITH MOISTURE CONTINUING TO STREAM IN...THE
AIR MASS SHOULD BECOME LESS STABLE WITH TIME AS SUGGESTED BY PROGGED
LI/CAPE/TT. ALSO...LCL HGTS GRADUALLY DECREASE AFTER OOZ THIS EVENING
OVER MOST OF KS. OTHERWISE...EXPECT CONVECTION TO BE PREVALENT IN
KS CWA AND EAST OF THE TRI CITIES. HAIL WILL BE A BIG CONCERN FOR
ANY STORMS THAT DO DEVELOP WITHIN THE NEBR CWA AS HEFTY 700-500MB
LRS LAY OVER STRONG THETA-E CONVERGENCE.

THUNDER CHANCES RETURN MONDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT AS STRONG LOW LEVEL
FRONTOGENETIC BOUNDARY ENVELOPES THE AREA...SUGGESTING AN MCS TYPE
EVENT. BUT LACKING LOW LEVEL JET AND EASTWARD SKEWED BOUNDARY LAYER
MOISTURE ALLOW ONLY SMALL POPS FOR THOSE PERIODS. WILL CONTINUE
SMALL POPS INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING FOR LINGERING SHOWERS.

NO BIG CHANGES TO THE EXTENDED.

.GID...NONE.

DEE

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 5, 3:02 PM CDT, 2 hours 59 minutes before

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-061200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
302 PM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002

...SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT...

THERE IS A RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER ALL OF SOUTH CENTRAL
NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS THROUGH TONIGHT.

A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS UNTIL 9 PM.
THUNDERSTORMS OVER WEST CENTRAL KANSAS WILL DEVELOP NORTHEASTWARD.
SOME MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND POSSIBLY TORNADOES.

THESE STORMS MAY CROSS THE NEBRASKA BORDER AS THE EVENING
PROGRESSES.  OTHER STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG A BOUNDARY IN
NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND SWEEP INTO AREAS NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80
TOWARD DUSK.

BY MIDNIGHT...THE GREATEST SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL BE CONFINED TO
AREAS NORTHEAST OF A LINE FROM KEARNEY TO SUPERIOR.  INCREASING WIND
FIELDS ARE EXPECTED TO ESCALATE THE THREAT FOR DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE
WIND GUSTS.

DROZD

Local storm report, May 5, 4:52 PM CDT, 1 hour 9 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
452 PM CDT SUN MAY 05 2002

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

0450 PM    7 S ZURICH                KS   TORNADO
05/05/02   ROOKS                          REPORTED BY STORM
                                          SPOTTER.

Local storm report, May 5, 5:10 PM CDT, 51 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
510 PM CDT SUN MAY 05 2002

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

0510 PM    2 W REAMSVILLE            KS   TORNADO
05/05/02   SMITH                          REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.

Local storm report, May 5, 5:32 PM CDT, 29 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
532 PM CDT SUN MAY 05 2002

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

0531 PM    4 N HASTINGS              NE   1.5 INCH HAIL
05/05/02   ADAMS

The office that day

Everything else NWS Hastings, NE issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 4:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Franklin	56 min
May 5, 5:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Webster	54 min
May 5, 5:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Adams	41 min
May 5, 5:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Webster	44 min
May 5, 5:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Clay, Hall, Hamilton	63 min
May 5, 6:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Merrick	48 min
May 5, 6:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Nuckolls, Webster	44 min
May 5, 6:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Kearney	51 min
May 5, 6:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Nance	38 min
May 5, 6:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Buffalo	51 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Nebraska, 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.