Alert archive / Montana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2008

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 102, NWS Great Falls, MT

July 26, 2008Blaine County, Montana

NWS Great Falls, MT issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 26, 2008, 4:14 PM MDT for Blaine County, Montana. 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
Jul 26, 2008, 4:14 PM MDT (22:14 UTC)
Expired
Jul 26, 2008, 4:45 PM MDT
In force
31 min
Issued by
NWS Great Falls, MT
Area
Storm-based polygon

County Blaine County, MT

The radar

The Glasgow radar (KGGW), 174 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:16 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Jul 26, 2:41 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 163 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, Great_falls, MT at 12:00Z on 2008-07-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 560 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Great_falls, MT at 12:00Z on 2008-07-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -24 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
560 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-311 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1786 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-24 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
97 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.2

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 Great Falls, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 26, 2:47 PM MDT, 1 hour 27 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 26, 2:47 PM MDT, 1 hour 27 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 26, 6:02 AM MDT, 10 hours 12 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
602 AM MDT SAT JUL 26 2008

MTZ008>015-044>055-271215-
BEAVERHEAD-NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT-EASTERN GLACIER-HILL-
CASCADE-CHOUTEAU-CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN LEWIS AND CLARK-MADISON-
TOOLE-LIBERTY-EASTERN PONDERA-BLAINE-
SOUTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT-EASTERN TETON-JUDITH BASIN-FERGUS-
JEFFERSON-BROADWATER-MEAGHER-GALLATIN-
602 AM MDT SAT JUL 26 2008

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL
MONTANA...NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AND SOUTHWEST MONTANA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS CENTRAL AND
NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...WITH SMALL HAIL
AND WIND GUSTS GREATER THAN 60 MPH FOR A TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY

ISOLATED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS NORTH
CENTRAL MONTANA SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING...WITH SMALL HAIL
AND WIND GUSTS GREATER THAN 50 MPH FOR A TIME.

.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 26, 11:56 AM MDT, 4 hours 18 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
1156 AM MDT SAT JUL 26 2008

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

0940 AM     HAIL             CUT BANK                48.63N 112.33W
07/26/2008  E0.75 INCH       GLACIER            MT   PUBLIC

            MOST HAILSTONES WERE ABOUT 1/4 INCH IN DIAMETER

&&

MCGINNIS
Local storm report, Jul 26, 1:43 PM MDT, 2 hours 31 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
143 PM MDT SAT JUL 26 2008

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

1230 PM     HAIL             30 NNW CHESTER          48.91N 111.22W
07/26/2008  E1.50 INCH       LIBERTY            MT   PUBLIC

            IN WHITLASH, HAILED FOR 15 MINUTES, MOST STONES ABOUT
            QUARTER SIZED, STONES BOUNCED OFF GROUND A LITTLE BIT

&&

MCGINNIS
Local storm report, Jul 26, 3:02 PM MDT, 1 hour 12 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
302 PM MDT SAT JUL 26 2008

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

0256 PM     HAIL             HAVRE                   48.54N 109.68W
07/26/2008  M0.88 INCH       HILL               MT   TRAINED SPOTTER

            HEAVY RAIN WITH WINDS GUSTING UP TO 50 MPH.

&&

SAUCIER
Local storm report, Jul 26, 3:06 PM MDT, 1 hour 8 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
306 PM MDT SAT JUL 26 2008

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

1225 PM     HAIL             21 NNE CHESTER          48.79N 110.79W
07/26/2008  E1.75 INCH       LIBERTY            MT   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            LAIRD ROAD

&&

MCGINNIS
Local storm report, Jul 26, 3:48 PM MDT, 26 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREAT FALLS MT
348 PM MDT SAT JUL 26 2008

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

0323 PM     HAIL             7 SE CHINOOK            48.52N 109.12W
07/26/2008  M2.00 INCH       BLAINE             MT   NWS EMPLOYEE

&&

SAUCIER

The office that day

Everything else NWS Great Falls, MT issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 26, 8:55 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXGlacier, Pondera, Toole50 min
Jul 26, 10:34 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXToole41 min
Jul 26, 11:48 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXToole42 min
Jul 26, 12:20 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXHill, Liberty, Toole40 min
Jul 26, 1:57 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXBlaine, Hill48 min
Jul 26, 2:16 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXBlaine, Hill59 min
Jul 26, 3:17 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXBlaine58 min
Jul 26, 3:49 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTFXFergus26 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Montana, 2008Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2008

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.