Alert archive / Oregon / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 25, NWS Pendleton, OR

July 16, 2002Union County, Oregon

NWS Pendleton, OR issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 16, 2002, 4:39 PM PDT for Union County, Oregon. It was in force for 36 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 16, 2002, 4:39 PM PDT (23:39 UTC)
Expired: Jul 16, 2002, 5:15 PM PDT
In force: 36 min
Issued by: NWS Pendleton, OR
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Union County, OR

The radar

The Pendleton radar (KPDT), 92 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:39 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.

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 nearest sounding before it

Boise Airport, ID (KBOI), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 225 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: 22 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -638 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2191 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 23 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 52 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

978 
WUUS56 KPDT 162339
SVRPDT
ORC061-170015-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
435 PM PDT TUE JUL 16 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PENDLETON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  CENTRAL UNION COUNTY IN NORTHEAST OREGON

* UNTIL 515 PM PDT

* AT 435 PM PDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 8 MILES WEST OF NORTH POWDER...OR ABOUT 18
  MILES SOUTH OF LA GRANDE...MOVING NORTH AT 15 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  RURAL CENTRAL UNION COUNTY AT 500 PM

LAT...LON 4506 11824 4493 11806 4523 11756 4541 11780

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 Pendleton, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 16, 2:30 PM PDT, 2 hours 9 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 16, 2:30 PM PDT, 2 hours 9 minutes before

NORTHEAST OREGON/SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
230 PM PDT TUE JUL 16 2002

ALTHOUGH THE AIR MASS IS DRIER AND SLIGHTLY MORE STABLE COMPARED TO
MONDAY AFTERNOON...THERE ARE SEVERAL BUILDUPS OVER SE OREGON.
DAYTIME HEATING WILL AID IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISOLATED T-STORMS IN
THIS AREA. WITH A SOUTHERLY FLOW ALOFT...THUNDESTORMS WILL MOVE
NORTH OVER THE BLUE MOUNTAINS...THE OCHOCOS...AND THE WALLOWAS.
STORMS WILL DIMINISH OVERNIGHT. VERY LITTLE CHANGE IN THE WEATHER IS
EXPECTED ON WEDNESDAY. LINGERING MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY WILL
RESULT IN ISOLATED T-STORMS OVER THE EASTERN MOUNTAINS AGAIN ON
WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THE REMAINDER OF THE REGION WILL BE
DRY WITH LITTLE CHANGE IN TEMPERATURES. THURSDAY WILL BE MORE OF AN
ACTIVE DAY.  CURRENTLY...A DEEP LOW IS MOVING TOWARDS BRITISH
COLUMBIA WHILE A WEAKER LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS MOVING TOWARDS
CALIFORNIA.  BY THURSDAY...THE FORECAST AREA WILL BE UNDER A
CYCLONIC FLOW ALOFT WITH A FAIRLY MOIST SOUTHERLY FLOW OVER THE
EASTERN PORTION OF THE FORECAST AREA.  WILL INTRODUCE A SLIGHT
CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS NOT ONLY FOR THE EASTERN
MOUNTAINS BUT ALSO THE FOOTHILLS.  SEVERAL EMBEDDED DISTURBANCES IN
THE FLOW WILL THREATEN THE OREGON MOUNTAINS WITH T-STORMS AGAIN ON
FRIDAY.

EXTENDED...A DRYING TREND IS IN STORE FOR SAT-TUES.  WEAK RIDGING
WILL RESULT IN DRIER AND MORE STABLE CONDITIONS THIS WEEKEND. THE
LATEST MRF DIFFERS FROM ITS PREVIOUS RUN FOR MONDAY AND TUESDAY BY
HINTING AT A RETURN TO VERY HOT CONDITIONS AS THE 4-CORNER HIGH
INTENSIFIES OVER EASTERN OREGON AND SE WASHINGTON. WILL WAIT
FOR ANOTHER RUN BEFORE JUMPING TO THIS SOLUTION.  SMITH

PDT 0--2  ALW 0--2  PSC 0001  YKM 0000

KPDT...VCP32/CSR21...OPERATIONAL.

.KPDT...NONE.

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Oregon, 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.