Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Omaha, NE

May 5, 2002Platte County, Nebraska

NWS Omaha, NE issued this tornado warning at May 5, 2002, 6:53 PM CDT for Platte County, Nebraska. It was in force for 52 min. 2 reports 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, 6:53 PM CDT (23:53 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 2002, 7:45 PM CDT
In force: 52 min
Issued by: NWS Omaha, NE
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Platte County, NE

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 100 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:55 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, 7:09 PM CDT	Hail 1	Platte Center, NE
May 5, 7:20 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 55 E	Platte Center, NE	Emergency management of Platte county estimated thunderstorm wind gusts of around 65 mph.

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
May 5, 4:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 11.9 hours before the alert went out and 100 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 
WFUS53 KOAX 052353
TOROMA
NEC141-060045-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA NE
653 PM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  PLATTE COUNTY IN NORTHEAST NEBRASKA

* UNTIL 745 PM CDT

* AT 650 PM CDT...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE STORM WITH A POSSIBLE
  TORNADO. THE MOST DANGEROUS PART OF THE STORM WAS LOCATED 15 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF MONROE...OR ABOUT 25 MILES WEST OF COLUMBUS...MOVING
  NORTHEAST AT 230 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  MONROE  
  PLATTE CENTER...TARNOV  

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...GO TO A BASEMENT. IF A BASEMENT
IS NOT AVAILABLE...TAKE COVER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST LEVEL
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS. AVOID WINDOWS.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1100 PM CDT SUNDAY EVENING
FOR SOUTHWESTERN IOWA AND EASTERN NEBRASKA.

LAT...LON 4151 9770 4136 9755 4149 9726 4174 9748

ZAPOTOCNY

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 5:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Douglas	37 min
May 5, 6:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Lancaster, Saline	39 min
May 5, 6:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Gage	36 min
May 5, 6:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Burt	35 min
May 5, 6:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Cass, Sarpy	32 min
May 5, 6:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Otoe	28 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 2002 Every tornado warning in 2002 Tornadoes 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.