Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 2004

Tornado Warning 6, NWS North Platte, NE

May 16, 2004Custer County, Nebraska

NWS North Platte, NE issued this tornado warning at May 16, 2004, 6:56 PM CDT for Custer County, Nebraska. It was in force for 34 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: May 16, 2004, 6:56 PM CDT (23:56 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 2004, 7:30 PM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS North Platte, NE
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Custer County, NE

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:57 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
May 16, 3:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 12:00Z, 11.9 hours before the alert went out and 91 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: 980 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 287 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 312 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

246 
WFUS53 KLBF 162356
TORLBF
NEC041-170030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
655 PM CDT SUN MAY 16 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTH PLATTE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CUSTER COUNTY IN CENTRAL NEBRASKA

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT

* AT 653 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 14 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF MASON CITY...OR ABOUT 23 MILES SOUTH OF BROKEN BOW...
  MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  MASON CITY AND 7 MILES SOUTHEAST OF ANSLEY AROUND 730 PM CDT

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A
WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS
AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING IN AN
INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. USE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO
COVER YOUR BODY AND ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

IF IN MOBILE HOMES OR VEHICLES...EVACUATE THEM AND GET INSIDE A
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE
NEAREST DITCH OR OTHER LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT SUNDAY EVENING
FOR SOUTHWESTERN NEBRASKA. A TORNADO WATCH ALSO REMAINS IN EFFECT
UNTIL 1000 PM CDT SUNDAY EVENING FOR NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA.

LAT...LON 4152 9973 4105 9975 4107 9923 4154 9927

$$

DP

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 3:33 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Custer	57 min
May 16, 4:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Loup	38 min
May 16, 4:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LBF	Loup, Rock	46 min
May 16, 5:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LBF	Holt	50 min
May 16, 5:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Brown, Rock	57 min
May 16, 5:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Custer	59 min
May 16, 6:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LBF	Holt	41 min
May 16, 6:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Loup, Rock	47 min
May 16, 6:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Custer	64 min
May 16, 6:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LBF	Holt	30 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 2004 Every tornado warning in 2004 Tornadoes in 2004

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.