Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 614

July 12, 200416 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 12, 2004, 8:40 PM CDT for 16 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 12, 2004, 8:40 PM CDT (01:40 UTC)
Expired: Jul 13, 2004, 2:00 AM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Adams County, NE, Buffalo County, NE, Clay County, NE, Franklin County, NE, Hall County, NE, Hamilton County, NE, Harlan County, NE, Howard County, NE, Kearney County, NE, Merrick County, NE, Nuckolls County, NE, Phelps County, NE, Polk County, NE, Sherman County, NE, Webster County, NE, York County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 38 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:43 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.

Warnings issued inside it

8 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 12, 8:43 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	GID	Greeley, Howard	6 hr
Jul 12, 9:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Hall	56 min
Jul 12, 9:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Howard, Sherman	58 min
Jul 12, 9:33 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	GID	Sherman	6 hr
Jul 12, 9:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Merrick	59 min
Jul 12, 9:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Hamilton	65 min
Jul 12, 9:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Buffalo	62 min
Jul 12, 10:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Hall	57 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 00:00Z, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 167 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: 2926 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -29 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2338 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 38 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 130141
SEL4  
SPC WW 130140
NEZ000-130700-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 614
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
840 PM CDT MON JUL 12 2004

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA

EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING FROM 840 PM UNTIL
200 AM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 50 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES NORTH OF GRAND ISLAND NEBRASKA TO 40 MILES
SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF HASTINGS NEBRASKA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 613...

DISCUSSION...LARGE SUPERCELL STORM NORTH OF GRAND ISLAND WILL
CONTINUE TO TRACK SOUTHWARD FOR ANOTHER FEW HOURS.  STORM IS MOVING
INTO AN INCREASINGLY WEAKER VERTICAL SHEARED ENVIRONMENT...AND MAY
SLOWLY WEAKEN AFTER 03Z.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 36025.


...HART

412,0972 400,0974 400,0994 412,0991

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 12, 7:45 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boone, Butler, Colfax, Cuming, Dodge, Greeley and 14 more	2 hr
Jul 12, 9:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Cass, Douglas, Gage, Jefferson, Johnson, Lancaster and 7 more	7 hr
Jul 12, 11:19 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Butler, Cass, Clay, Dodge, Douglas and 18 more	116 min
Jul 13, 2:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Boone, Burt, Butler, Cass, Colfax, Cuming and 16 more	6 hr
Jul 13, 3:27 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Arthur, Banner, Box Butte, Chase, Cheyenne, Deuel and 11 more	3 hr
Jul 13, 4:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Arthur, Banner, Box Butte, Chase, Cheyenne, Dawes and 10 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 2004 Every tornado watch 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.