Alert archive / Montana / Mesoscale Discussions in 2009

Mesoscale Discussion 331

March 29, 20097 counties in Montana; 6 counties in Wyoming

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Mar 29, 2009, 9:03 PM MDT for 7 counties in Montana; 6 counties in Wyoming. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Mar 29, 2009, 9:03 PM MDT (03:03 UTC)
Expired
Mar 30, 2009, 3:00 AM MDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Big Horn County, MT, Carbon County, MT, Custer County, MT, Fallon County, MT, Powder River County, MT, Rosebud County, MT, Stillwater County, MT, Big Horn County, WY, Fremont County, WY, Hot Springs County, WY, Johnson County, WY, Sheridan County, WY, Washakie County, WY

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 171 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:03 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 nearest sounding before it

Riverton, WY (KRIW), launched 00:00Z, 3.1 hours before the alert went out and 245 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, Riverton, WY at 00:00Z on 2009-03-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Riverton, WY at 00:00Z on 2009-03-30The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 68 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
2739 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
64 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
68 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
104 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 
ACUS11 KWNS 300304
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 300303 
MTZ000-WYZ000-300900-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0331
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1003 PM CDT SUN MAR 29 2009

AREAS AFFECTED...NCNTRL/NERN WY AND SERN MT

CONCERNING...HEAVY SNOW 

VALID 300303Z - 300900Z

H7 LOW APPEARS TO BE GRADUALLY REFORMING/DEVELOPING SEWD FROM ALONG
THE MT/WY BORDER INTO NERN WY LATE THIS EVENING.  DEEP LAYER FLOW
HAS TURNED MORE NELY ACROSS SERN MT AND SHOULD DO SO ACROSS NERN WY
THROUGH THE NEXT SVRL HOURS.  UPSLOPE ENHANCED SNOWFALL HAS BEEN IN
PROGRESS ACROSS THE BIG HORNS OF MT MOST OF THIS EVENING.  SNOW
RATES SHOULD INCREASE FARTHER SOUTH ACROSS THE BIG HORNS IN WY
BETWEEN 06-08Z.  MEANWHILE...COLD AIR HAS CURLED SWD THROUGH THE BIG
HORN BASIN AND SNOWFALL RATES WILL ALSO INCREASE ACROSS THE ERN/NRN
SLOPES OF THE WIND RIVER AND OWL MOUNTAINS RANGES...FOR AT LEAST A
FEW HOURS THIS EVENING.

IN ADDITION TO THE UPSLOPE ENHANCED SNOWFALL RATES OF 1-2 INCHES PER
HOUR...MODEST H7-H5 FRONTOGENETICAL FORCING WILL FOCUS A PROLONGED
HEAVY SNOWBAND EXTENDING FROM THE BIG HORNS NEWD ACROSS SRN
ROSEBUD...POWDER RIVER...CARTER...SRN CUSTER AND SRN FALLON COUNTIES
IN SERN MT THROUGH 12Z.  THIS BAND SHOULD RELAX AND REDEVELOP
FARTHER E IN SD/ND AS THE MID-LVL LOW CONTINUES TO TRANSLATE EWD
BEYOND THE BLACK HILLS.

IN ADDITION TO THE FALLING SNOW...CONSIDERABLE BLOWING SNOW
/BLIZZARD CONDITIONS/ WILL EVOLVE SEWD WITH TIME AS THE PRESSURE
GRADIENT TIGHTENS ALONG THE BACKSIDE OF THE MID-LVL SYSTEM.

..RACY.. 03/30/2009

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...BYZ...RIW...

LAT...LON   42810879 44280927 45640969 46060762 46430599 46580427
            46170411 45590425 45050627 44680651 43440626 42810879

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 30, 5:36 AM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCrook4 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Montana, 2009Mesoscale Discussions in Wyoming, 2009Every mesoscale discussion in 2009

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.