Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 37, NWS Omaha, NE

July 20, 2003Colfax County, Stanton County, Nebraska

NWS Omaha, NE issued this tornado warning at Jul 20, 2003, 5:55 PM CDT for Colfax County, Stanton County, Nebraska. It was in force for 35 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 20, 2003, 5:55 PM CDT (22:55 UTC)
Expired: Jul 20, 2003, 6:30 PM CDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Omaha, NE
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Colfax County, NE, Stanton County, NE

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 87 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:57 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jul 20, 2:50 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 87 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: 1371 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -314 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1243 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 67 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 88 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

195 
WFUS53 KOAX 202255
TOROAX
NEC037-167-202330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA NE
554 PM CDT SUN JUL 20 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  COLFAX COUNTY IN NORTHEAST NEBRASKA
  STANTON COUNTY IN NORTHEAST NEBRASKA

* UNTIL 630 PM CDT

* AT 552 PM CDT...RADAR INDICATED A TORNADIC STORM AND TRAINED STORM
  SPOTTERS CONFIRM A TORNADO 9 MILES NORTH OF LEIGH...OR ABOUT 16
  MILES SOUTHEAST OF NORFOLK...MOVING SOUTH AT 15 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
  LEIGH...CLARKSON AND RURAL AREAS IN SOUTHERN STANTON COUNTY.

A TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED A TORNADO NEAR HIGHWAY 57 ABOUT 4 MILES 
NORTH OF THE COLFAX COUNTY LINE AT 550 PM.

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.

LAT...LON 4193 9719 4189 9736 4159 9724 4163 9700

$$

GRIFFIS

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 20, 4:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Cuming, Stanton	46 min
Jul 20, 5:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Stanton	28 min
Jul 20, 5:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Madison, Platte	39 min
Jul 20, 5:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Burt, Cuming	52 min
Jul 20, 6:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Platte	35 min
Jul 20, 6:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Platte	48 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes 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.