Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 46, NWS Glasgow, MT

July 16, 2003Petroleum County, Phillips County, Montana

NWS Glasgow, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 16, 2003, 7:11 PM MDT for Petroleum County, Phillips County, Montana. It was in force for 64 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 16, 2003, 7:11 PM MDT (01:11 UTC)
Expired
Jul 16, 2003, 8:15 PM MDT
In force
64 min
Issued by
NWS Glasgow, MT
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Petroleum County, MT, Phillips County, MT

The radar

The Glasgow radar (KGGW), 123 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:12 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 00:00Z, 1.2 hours before the alert went out and 191 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Great_falls, MT at 00:00Z on 2003-07-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 63 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Great_falls, MT at 00:00Z on 2003-07-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 67 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
63 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-198 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3922 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
67 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
140 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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 Glasgow, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 16, 2:50 PM MDT, 4 hours 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 16, 2:50 PM MDT, 4 hours 21 minutes before
NORTHEAST MONTANA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT
250 PM MDT WED JUL 16 2003

.SHORT TERM...
UPPER RIDGE CONTINUES TO BUILD WITH UPPER TROF SLOWLY ROTATING
THROUGH SOUTHERN BC. MONSOONAL MOISTURE FINALLY MAKING AN APPEARANCE
OVER DESERT SOUTHWEST AND AS RIDGE AMPLIFIES WILL REACH INTO MONTANA
BY THURSDAY. WEAK SHORTWAVES IN THE SOUTHWEST FLOW EXPECTED TO
TRIGGER THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS MONTANA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
INITIAL STORMS EXPECTED TO BE DRY WITH MODIFIED INVERTED-V
SOUNDINGS. MAIN CONCERN FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT IS THAT AIRMASS
VERY WARM AND MODEL SOUNDINGS SUGGEST STRONG CAP OVER EASTERN
MONTANA FOR MOST OF THE DAY. EVEN THOUGH AIRMASS BECOMES
INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE...MAY NOT BE ENOUGH TO OVERCOME CAP. DECENT
LOW LEVEL SOUTHEAST JET PUSHES INTO EASTERN MONTANA THIS AFTERNOON
FOR RISING DEWPOINTS OVER EASTERN ZONES. THIS WILL HELP ESTABLISH
DRY LINE FRONT OVER CENTRAL MONTANA AND A FOCUS FOR CONVECTIVE
DEVELOPMENT. THUS WILL KEEP THE LOW POPS FOR DRY THUNDERSTORMS THIS
AFTERNOON AND EVENING. WILL UPGRADE FIRE WEATHER WATCH TO RED FLAG
WARNING MAINLY FOR INCREASE IN THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL AFTER
PROLONGED DRY PERIOD.

THUNDERSTORMS TRANSITION TO WET LATE TONIGHT AS PRECIPITABLE WATER
INCREASES TO OVER AN INCH ACROSS THE CWA. DEW POINTS ALSO RISE TO
NEAR 60 OVER EASTERN ZONES. FRONT ALSO WORKS ITS WAY ACROSS THE CWA
ON THURSDAY WITH UPPER TROF MOVING INTO CENTRAL CANADA. HOWEVER
EXPECT ONLY SLIGHT COOLING WITH FLATTENING OF THERMAL RIDGE.

FRONT MOVES INTO DAKOTAS ON FRIDAY WITH DRY HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING
BACK INTO STATE. UPPER RIDGE REBOUNDS TO THE WEST FOR AGAIN SLIGHTLY
COOLER TEMPERATURES OVER NORTHEAST MONTANA. EBERT

.LONG TERM...FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY...
A LARGE RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE COVERS MUCH OF THE WESTERN CONUS
THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. 500H HEIGHTS WILL APPROACH 600 DAM AT
TIMES IN THE VICINITY OF THE FOUR CORNERS WHICH IS COMMON FOR
MID-JULY. 500H HEIGHTS ARE PROGGED TO CLIMB INTO THE 580S AND LOW
590S AS FAR NORTH AS EASTERN MT SO TEMPERATURES WILL AVERAGE ABOVE
NORMAL WITH HIGHS WELL INTO THE 90S MOST DAYS WITH ISOLATED TRIPLE
DIGIT READINGS POSSIBLE. THE NEXT SIGNIFICANT SHORT WAVE TO PUSH
THROUGH THE RIDGE SATURDAY EVENING. PER COORDINATION WITH
SURROUNDING OFFICES WILL ADD IN A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS FOR THIS
FEATURE ACROSS OUR EASTERN ZONES. OUR UPPER FLOW WILL AT LEAST
BRIEFLY TURN INTO THE NW BEHIND THIS FEATURE SUNDAY. HEIGHTS AND
THICKNESSES SUPPORT COOLER TEMPS FOR A DAY. THE UPPER RIDGE REBOUNDS
AGAIN EARLY NEXT WEEK FOR DRY AND HOT WEATHER WITH HIGHS IN THE 90S.
CB

KGGW BEU /097 064/096 056/088 9023330
     BBBB 057/091 057/087 057/088 056/094 056/ 92000000000
KGDV BEU /098 065/098 057/089 9023330
     TBBB 057/090 057/086 056/086 056/095 056/ 92033000000

.GGW...RED FLAG WARNING THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING FOR FIRE WEATHER
ZONES 119>122.
Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 16, 2:15 PM MDT, 4 hours 56 minutes before
MTZ016>027-059>062-171200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GLASGOW MT
215 PM MDT WED JUL 16 2003

.DAY ONE...

A RED FLAG WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
REFER TO GTFRFWGGW OR WWUS85 KGGW FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

THE THREAT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXISTS ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON
AND EVENING. STRONG WINDS ARE POSSIBLE WITH ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT
DEVELOP.

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

LYNN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 16, 8:32 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGGWGarfield58 min
Jul 16, 9:37 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGGWGarfield53 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Montana, 2003Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2003

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.