Alert archive / California / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 16, NWS Sacramento, CA

May 7, 2003Tehama County, California

NWS Sacramento, CA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 7, 2003, 7:44 PM PDT for Tehama County, California. It was in force for 31 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
May 7, 2003, 7:44 PM PDT (02:44 UTC)
Expired
May 7, 2003, 8:15 PM PDT
In force
31 min
Issued by
NWS Sacramento, CA
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Tehama County, CA

The nearest sounding before it

Medford/Jackson, OR (KMFR), launched 00:00Z, 2.7 hours before the alert went out and 254 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, Medford/Jackson, OR at 00:00Z on 2003-05-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Medford/Jackson, OR at 00:00Z on 2003-05-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -9 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
2839 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-9 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
35 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 Sacramento, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 7, 2:14 PM PDT, 5 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 7, 2:14 PM PDT, 5 hours 30 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
215 9M PDT WED MAY 07 2003

UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE HAS LEFT SPRINKLINGS OF PRECIPITATION AROUND
THE REGION TODAY... MOSTLY MEASURING LESS THAN 1/10 OF AN INCH. A
MODICUM INSTABILITY ASSOCIATED WITH THE LEFT-OVER CUMULUS HAS CAUSED
ME TO LEAVE ISOLATED LOWER ELEVATION THUNDERSTORMS FOR EARLY THIS
EVENING... BUT CONFIDENCE LEVEL FOR OCCURRENCE AT THIS TIME IS LOW.
AS THE NEXT DEEPER LOW DROPS SOUTH INTO THE AREA TONIGHT INTO
THURSDAY, HOWEVER, THIS WILL BE A HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOUR.
COOLER AIR WILL DROP THE SNOW LEVELS TO 3,500 TO 4,000 FEET IN THE
NORTH - AND JUST ABOVE THAT FOR THE SOUTH. QPF FORECASTS ARE LOW
ENOUGH TO NOT WORRY ABOUT ANYTHING REACHING ADVISORY CRITERIA. SEEMS
STRANGE TO STILL BE TALKING ABOUT SNOW STORMS IN MAY... BUT SUCH IS
MOTHERS NATURE. DEEP AND MOIST CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY WILL BE ANOTHER
STORY, HOWEVER, AS INDICES FOR THURSDAY AFTERNOON FOR THIS PHENOMENA
ARE HIGHER THAN TODAY. THAT UPPER LOW WILL MIGRATE EAST THURSDAY
NIGHT INTO FRIDAY LEAVING JUST RESIDUAL, MAINLY HIGHER ELEVATION
SHOWERS. ANOTHER LOW DROPPING INTO OREGON ON THE WEEKEND SEEMS TO
ENTRAIN SOME OF THE MOISTURE AND NRG FROM THE LAST SYSTEM, TO KEEP A
CHANCE OF SHOWERY ACTIVITY MAINLY IN THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS. SHORT-
WAVE RIDGING WILL DRY THE SOUTHERN REALMS THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT
WEEK, BUT THE LOW DROPPING SOUTH THROUGH NEVADA ON TUESDAY WILL KEEP
A CHANCE OF SIERRA SHOWERS FOR THEN... THEN ANOTHER TROUGH TO THE
NORTH ON WEDNESDAY WILL INTRODUCE POPS THERE FOR THAT TIME PERIOD.
RANDY HARTLEY

.STO...NONE.

BLU JE 031/036 028/041 032 69488
RBL WE 048/061 044/065 049 69477
SAC WB 046/063 044/063 050 69377
Hazardous weather outlook, May 7, 7:00 AM PDT, 12 hours 44 minutes before
CAZ013>019-063-064-066>069-081400-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
700 AM PDT WED MAY 7 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY

ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST FOR THE SACRAMENTO VALLEY
TODAY.  REFER TO THE ZONE FORECAST (FPUS56 ZFPSTO) FOR
DETAILS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

RAIN LIKELY WITH SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS ON THURSDAY. THUNDERSTORMS
WITH SMALL HAIL ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. OTHERWISE NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS
EXPECTED THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER
CONDITIONS TO THEIR LOCAL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE.

THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET
AT (LOWER CASE): HTTP://WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/SACRAMENTO

SMITH

The office that day

Everything else NWS Sacramento, CA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 7, 6:57 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSTOTehama43 min
May 7, 7:42 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSTOTehama33 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in California, 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.