Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 71, NWS Great Falls, MT

July 24, 2003Madison County, Montana

NWS Great Falls, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 24, 2003, 4:30 PM MDT for Madison County, Montana. It was in force for 60 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 24, 2003, 4:30 PM MDT (22:30 UTC)
Expired: Jul 24, 2003, 5:30 PM MDT
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Great Falls, MT
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Madison 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 nearest sounding before it

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 12:00Z, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 260 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 3651 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 56 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 69 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.

113 
WUUS55 KTFX 242230
SVRTFX
MTC057-242330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
429 PM MDT THU JUL 24 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREAT FALLS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN MADISON COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST MONTANA
  THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF SHERIDAN

* UNTIL 530 PM MDT

* AT 425 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 26 MILES SOUTHWEST OF TWIN BRIDGES...OR OVER 
DILLON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  TWIN BRIDGES AT 515 PM MDT
  SHERIDAN AT 520 PM MDT

STRONG AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE LIKELY FROM THIS STORM...BUT THERE WILL
BE LITTLE RAIN. BLOWING DUST MAY REDUCE VISIBILITY TO A MILE AT 
TIMES. TAKE COVER IN A STURDY STRUCTURE UNTIL THE STORM PASSES.

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

LAT...LON 4522 11244 4544 11250 4572 11214 4555 11190

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 Jul 24, 3:00 PM MDT, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 24, 3:00 PM MDT, 1 hour 30 minutes before

SOUTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
300 PM MDT THU JUL 24 2003

.SHORT TERM...

THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY...HIGH PRESSURE REMAINS OVER THE
ZONES HOWEVER THE AIRMASS IS BEING MODIFIED SLIGHTLY FROM TWO
DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS. MID-UPPER LEVEL MOISTURE IS MOVING UP FROM THE
SW US. AT THE SAME TIME A SHORTWAVE OVER WESTERN CANADA IS ALSO
MOVING TOWARDS NORTHERN MONTANA. THE AIRMASS AS THE RIDGE IS
FLATTENED AND SOME COOLER AIR FROM CANADA MOVES SOUTH. MONSOONAL
MOISTURE FROM SW US REMAINS IN THE AREA THRU SATURDAY AND THE
AIRMASS WILL BE SLIGHTLY UNSTABLE DURING THE AFTERNOONS. THE
SOUTHERN ZONES WILL BE UNSTABLE DURING THE AFTERNOONS AND THE ADDED
MOISTURE WILL KEEP AT LEAST ISOLATED POPS IN THE FORECAST.

SATURDAY NIGHT...FLAT UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WITH SHORT WAVE MOVING OVER
NORTHERN ZONES AND ANOTHER SHORT WAVE APPROACHING SW ZONES. SLIGHT
CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION OVER THE SOUTHWEST.
SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT...UPPER RIDGE MOVES SLIGHTLY NW AND STARTS
TO REBUILD. THIS WILL PUT OUR CWA IN A NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. SURFACE
LOW SETS UP EAST OF DIVIDE FOR EASTERLY FLOW. MODELS HINT AT COOLER
TEMPERATURES BUT WILL LEAVE THEM IN THE UPPER 80S AND LOWER 90S DUE
TO LITTLE CLOUD COVER. CAMP

MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY...THE UPPER RIDGE AMPLIFIES OVER THE WESTERN
UNITED STATES FOR HOT AND DRY CONDITIONS. WEAK DISTURBANCES RIDE
OVER THE RIDGE...BUT THERE WILL NOT BE ENOUGH MOISTURE TO GENERATE
ANY SHOWER OR THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY. HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL
GENERALLY BE IN THE MID 90S TO NEAR 102 THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD...WITH
BRIEF COOLING INTO THE MID 80S TO LOWER 90S ALONG THE PLAINS ON
TUESDAY AS A WEAK COLD FRONT MOVES SOUTH OVER THE AREA. OVERNIGHT
LOWS WILL BE MOSTLY IN THE 50S TO LOWER 60S.  COULSTON

.CCF NUMBERS
GTF BB 062/090 057/085 056 130--
    UUUUB 090/057 094/057 093/060 096/061 096 11000000000
CTB UB 058/086 053/083 054 13---
    UUUUB 088/055 092/055 091/056 094/057 094 11000000000
HLN BB 067/090 061/089 061 13122
    UUUUB 092/062 096/062 097/063 096/064 096 11000000000
BZN BB 059/086 054/086 053 13333
    UUUUB 092/054 096/054 096/057 096/058 096 22000000000
WEY BB 050/079 048/079 046 13333
    BUUUB 086/047 090/047 091/048 090/049 090 22000000000
DLN BB 064/085 055/085 054 13122
    BUUUB 091/055 095/055 096/058 095/059 095 22000000000
HVR UB 061/093 060/088 058 13---
    UUUUB 092/058 096/058 094/061 098/062 098 11000000000
LWT BB 062/085 059/083 056 13-22
    UUUUB 087/056 091/056 089/057 093/058 093 11000000000

.TFX...RED FLAG WARNING TODAY FOR GUSTY WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE
       HUMIDITIES FOR FIRE ZONES 112 AND 114.
    ...RED FLAG WARNING OVER PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST MONTANA FOR
       THUNDERSTORMS AND HIGH FIRE DANGER.

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 24, 10:05 AM MDT, 6 hours 25 minutes before

MTZ008>015-044>055-250010-
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
1005 AM MDT THU JUL 24 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST
MONTANA

.DAY ONE...TODAY
A RED FLAG WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT AND
ADJACENT PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH EVENING. PLEASE REFER TO
WWUS85 KTFX/GTFRFWTFX FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

A RED FLAG WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST MONTANA
FOR SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS AND GUSTY WINDS FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING. SEE WWUS85 KMSO/GTFRFWMSO FOR DETAILS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER
CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 24, 4:10 PM MDT, 20 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
410 PM MDT THU JUL 24 2003

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

0328 PM    HAVRE                     MT   59 MPH TSTM GUST
07/24/03   HILL                           RECORDED BY HAVRE ASOS

NNNN

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Montana, 2003 Every 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.