Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 18, NWS Great Falls, MT

June 22, 2002Fergus County, Montana

NWS Great Falls, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 22, 2002, 2:49 PM MDT for Fergus County, Montana. It was in force for 26 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: Jun 22, 2002, 2:49 PM MDT (20:49 UTC)
Expired: Jun 22, 2002, 3:15 PM MDT
In force: 26 min
Issued by: NWS Great Falls, MT
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Fergus County, MT

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
Jun 22, 1:45 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 12:00Z, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 146 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: 5 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -434 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1427 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -7 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.

000 
WUUS55 KTFX 222049
SVRTFX
MTC027-222115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
248 PM MDT SAT JUN 22 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NORTHEASTERN FERGUS COUNTY IN CENTRAL MONTANA

* UNTIL 315 PM MDT

* AT 240 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER EXTREME NORTHEASTERN FERGUS COUNTY...OR
  ABOUT 55 MILES NORTHEAST OF LEWISTOWN...MOVING NORTHWEST AT 10 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
RURAL EASTERN FERGUS COUNTY AT 300 PM MDT

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. THEY
WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST
OFFICE IN GREAT FALLS.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 700 PM MDT
SATURDAY EVENING FOR NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA.

LAT...LON 4770 10890 4750 10875 4746 10841 4758 10839

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 Great Falls, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jun 22, 9:10 AM MDT, 5 hours 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 22, 9:10 AM MDT, 5 hours 39 minutes before

SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
910 AM MDT SAT JUN 22 2002

.SHORT TERM...ONLY MINOR UPDATES PLANNED. SATELLITE SHOWING UPPER
LEVEL TROUGH ROTATING THROUGH EASTERN IDAHO AND WESTERN WYOMING.
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP AS THIS TROUGH MOVES INTO THE
CWA THIS AFTERNOON. CURRENT FORECAST LOOKS GOOD. HOWEVER...WILL
NEED TO LOWER HIGHS BY 5 TO 10 DEGREES IN THE DILLON AREA DUE TO
OVERCAST SKIES. MEIER

.EXTENDED...MODELS CONTINUE THE TREND OF BUILDING AN UPPER LEVEL
RIDGE OVER THE CWA BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. MRF/AVN BRING A WEAK
DISTURBANCE BENEATH THE RIDGE AND INTO SOUTHWEST MT BY WEDNESDAY.
THE ECMWF HAS ALSO CHANGED SOLUTIONS AND PROGRESSES A FAIRLY STRONG
UPPER TROUGH INTO THE WESTERN CONUS BY FRIDAY MORNING. BOTH OF THESE
SOLUTIONS SEEM A BIT OVER DONE GIVEN THE STRENGTH OF THE RIDGE.
SINCE THIS IS THE FIRST MODEL RUN THAT HAS STRAYED FROM THE STRONG
RIDGE SOLUTION OF THE LAST FEW DAYS...I WILL HOLD OFF ON MAKING ANY
CHANGES TO THE EXTENDED FORECAST FOR NOW. MPJ

.CCF NUMBERS
GTF TB 077/056 080/054 083 14662
    BBBBB 058/088 055/088 055/090 055/090 055 11211111111
CTB TB 076/055 078/052 081 14552
    BBBBB 050/083 052/084 050/085 050/085 050 11211111111
HLN TB 079/055 082/054 086 14662
    BBBBB 056/090 055/090 055/090 055/090 055 11211111111
BZN TT 078/052 080/050 080 14553
    EBBBB 050/088 050/088 050/088 050/088 050 12211111111
WEY TT 074/044 074/042 076 14553
    EBBBB 040/078 040/078 040/079 040/079 040 12211111111
DLN TT 073/052 080/050 082 14442
    EBBBB 050/088 048/088 048/088 048/088 048 12211111111
HVR TT 085/059 086/057 089 14554
    EBBBB 058/090 058/090 058/090 058/090 058 21211111111
LWT TT 077/055 077/052 080 14663
    EBBBB 052/085 052/085 053/085 053/085 053 21211111111=

.TFX...FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR GLACIER COUNTY
       RIVER STATEMENT FOR NORTHWEST ZONES...SEE FGUS85 KTFX...
       RVSTFX.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 22, 10:59 AM MDT, 3 hours 50 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
1059 AM MDT SAT JUN 22 2002

TIME(MDT)  .....EVENT  LOCATION..... ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...........
           .....COUNTY LOCATION.....

0720 PM    BOULDER                   MT   1 INCH HAIL
06/21/02   JEFFERSON                      REPORTED BY BOULDER SHERIFF

0752 PM    SILVER CITY               MT   62 MPH TSTM GUST
06/21/02   LEWIS  AND  CLARK

0815 PM    20 SE CASCADE             MT   60 MPH TSTM GUST
06/21/02   CASCADE                        ESTIMATED. 0.47 INCHES OF
                                          RAIN IN 10 MINUTES. 1/4
                                          INCH HAIL.

0815 PM    SILVER CITY               MT   65 MPH TSTM GUST
06/21/02   LEWIS  AND  CLARK              ESTIMATED

0930 PM    7 S NEIHART               MT   0.75 INCH HAIL
06/21/02   CASCADE                        HAIL COVERED THE GROUND

0930 PM    14 E JEFFERSON CITY       MT   60 MPH TSTM GUST
06/21/02   JEFFERSON                      ESTIMATED

1000 PM    3 N MONARCH               MT   0.75 INCH HAIL
06/21/02   CASCADE

NNNN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 21, 7:39 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Jefferson	36 min
Jun 21, 7:45 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Jefferson	30 min
Jun 21, 7:59 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Broadwater	31 min
Jun 21, 8:03 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Cascade	42 min
Jun 21, 8:07 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Lewis and Clark	23 min
Jun 21, 8:08 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Cascade	37 min
Jun 21, 8:28 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Meagher	32 min
Jun 21, 8:58 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Meagher	47 min
Jun 21, 9:11 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Cascade, Meagher	64 min
Jun 21, 9:57 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Judith Basin	48 min
Jun 22, 3:20 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Fergus	55 min
Jun 22, 4:19 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TFX	Blaine	41 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.