Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 39, NWS Omaha, NE

July 20, 2003Platte County, Nebraska

NWS Omaha, NE issued this tornado warning at Jul 20, 2003, 6:42 PM CDT for Platte County, Nebraska. It was in force for 48 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, 6:42 PM CDT (23:42 UTC)
Expired: Jul 20, 2003, 7:30 PM CDT
In force: 48 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), 94 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:42 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, 4:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 94 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.

000 
WFUS53 KOAX 202342
TOROAX
NEC141-210030-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  PLATTE COUNTY IN NORTHEAST NEBRASKA
  THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF COLUMBUS

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT

* AT 637 PM CDT...RADAR INDICATED 2 SEPARATE TORNADIC STORMS AND 
TRAINED STORM SPOTTERS CONFIRM TORNADOES NEAR PLATTE CENTER AND 
SILVER CREEK...OR  ABOUT 6 MILES NORTHWEST OF COLUMBUS AND 10 MILES 
WEST OF COLUMBUS.  BOTH ARE MOVING SOUTH AT 20 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
  COLUMBUS
  DUNCAN
  PLATTE CENTER

TAKE COVER NOW IN A BASEMENT OR IN AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
LEVEL OF A STRONG BUILDING. CARS AND MOBILE HOMES SHOULD BE
ABANDONED. GO TO A SAFE PLACE NOW.

LAT...LON 4156 9735 4156 9774 4107 9764 4111 9737

$$

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, 5:55 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Colfax, Stanton	35 min
Jul 20, 6:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Platte	35 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.