Alert archive / Nevada / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2004

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 6, NWS Reno, NV

July 21, 2004Washoe County, Nevada

NWS Reno, NV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 21, 2004, 7:25 PM PDT for Washoe County, Nevada. It was in force for 50 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 21, 2004, 7:25 PM PDT (02:25 UTC)
Expired: Jul 21, 2004, 8:15 PM PDT
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Reno, NV
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Washoe County, NV

The radar

The Reno radar (KRGX), 24 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:26 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.

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

Reno, NV (KREV), launched 00:00Z, 2.4 hours before the alert went out and 130 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: 141 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -11 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 3578 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 12 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.

000 
WUUS55 KREV 220225
SVRREV
NVC031-220315-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
721 PM PDT WED JUL 21 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RENO HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN WASHOE COUNTY IN WESTERN NEVADA
  THIS INCLUDES PYRAMID LAKE

* UNTIL 815 PM PDT

* AT 716 PM PDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING QUARTER SIZE HAIL.  THIS
  STORM WAS LOCATED 10 MILES SOUTH OF SUTCLIFFE...OR ABOUT 18 MILES
  SOUTH OF PYRAMID LAKE. THIS STORM WAS NEARLY STATIONARY.

* OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO STEAD
  AND NIXON.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH...PREPARE
IMMEDIATELY FOR DAMAGING WINDS...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...AND DEADLY CLOUD
TO GROUND LIGHTNING. PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A SHELTER...
PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

IF ON OR NEAR PYRAMID LAKE MOVE TO SAFE HARBOR. GET OUT OF THE WATER 
AND MOVE INDOORS OR INSIDE A VEHICLE. REMEMBER...LIGHTNING CAN 
STRIKE OUT TO 15 MILES FROM THE PARENT THUNDERSTORM. IF YOU CAN HEAR 
THUNDER...YOU ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. MOVE TO 
SAFE SHELTER NOW. DONT BE CAUGHT ON THE WATER IN A THUNDERSTORM

LAT...LON 4010 11995 3962 11994 3964 11910 4008 11933

$$

OHARA

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 Reno, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 21, 3:34 PM PDT, 3 hours 51 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 21, 3:34 PM PDT, 3 hours 51 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
334 PM PDT WED JUL 21 2004

.SHORT TERM...
THE PRECIPITATION FORECAST THROUGH SATURDAY WILL BE FOCUSED ON TWO
MAIN FACTORS...WEAK FLOW INSTABILITY BUILDING NORTH ALONG THE SIERRA
CREST AND A WEAK PACIFIC FRONT EASING INTO OUR NORTHEASTERN AREAS ON
THURSDAY. FOR OUR WESTERN ZONES...I BASED THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS OF
CONVECTION ON WHAT IS OCCURRING THIS AFTERNOON. WEAK SOUTHERLY FLOW
ALOFT WILL ALLOW ISOLATED STORMS TO BUILD UP TO TAHOE AND ALONG THE
PINE NUT RANGE TO THE EAST OF CARSON CITY THURSDAY...AND THEN
PERHAPS UP TO PYRAMID LAKE OR SO FRIDAY. MEANWHILE...THE PACIFIC
FRONT OVER OUR NORTHERN AND EASTERN ZONES WILL PROVIDE SOME
CONVERGENCE FOR A FEW STORMS WITH STRONG DAYTIME HEATING THROUGH
SATURDAY. TEMPERATURE WISE...CONTINUED ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES ARE
EXPECTED THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT UNDER THE UPPER RIDGE SPREADING WEST
INTO THE REGION. AT LEAST THERE IS SOME SLIGHT GOOD NEWS WITH
TEMPERATURES IN THAT THE UPPER RIDGE LOOKS CONSIDERABLY LESS
POWERFUL THEN IT DID JUST A COUPLE MODEL RUNS AGO...SO INSTEAD OF
101 WE MIGHT HAVE ABOUT 98 FOR RENO. HAIL THE SMALL VICTORIES.
SNYDER
&&

.LONG TERM...SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...
RIDGE RETROGRADES TO THE ERN PACIFIC THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD.
SHORTWAVE ENERGY FLATTENS THE RIDGE AS IT BUILDS WEST BRINGER OUR
AREA UNDER A COOLER NW FLOW BY MONDAY. MODELS SLIGHTLY DIFFER ON
HANDLING SHORTWAVE ENERGY AS IT MOVES DOWN THE BACKSIDE OF THE
RIDGE. INTRODUCED SOME CHICKEN POPS OVER NRN AREAS SUN-TUE ASSUMING
MODELS CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN TROUGHINESS OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
DURING THAT TIME FRAME. ALSO KEPT SLIGHT CHANCES OVER THE FAVORABLE
SRN CONVERGENCE ZONE THROUGH THE PERIOD AS MOISTURE/INSTABILITY
LINGERS. TEMPS COOL A LITTLE UNDER NW FLOW BUT REMAIN ABOVE NORMAL
THROUGH THE EXTENDED. JORDAN
&&

.REV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NV...NONE.
CA...NONE.
&&

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 21, 3:39 PM PDT, 3 hours 46 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RENO NV
339 PM PDT WED JUL 21 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0304 PM     HAIL             WOODFORDS               38.78N 119.82W
07/21/2004  0.75 INCH        ALPINE             CA   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

BFO

The office that day

Everything else NWS Reno, NV issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 21, 7:40 PM PDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	REV	Churchill, Lyon, Storey, Washoe	50 min
Jul 21, 8:45 PM PDT	Flash Flood Warning	REV	Lyon, Storey	3 hr
Jul 21, 8:59 PM PDT	Flash Flood Warning	REV	Washoe	3 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Nevada, 2004 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.