Alert archive / Montana / Mesoscale Discussions in 2011

Mesoscale Discussion 1613

July 14, 201111 counties in Montana

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Jul 14, 2011, 11:04 AM MDT for 11 counties in Montana. It was in force for 116 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 14, 2011, 11:04 AM MDT (17:04 UTC)
Expired
Jul 14, 2011, 1:00 PM MDT
In force
116 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Blaine County, MT, Fergus County, MT, Golden Valley County, MT, Judith Basin County, MT, Meagher County, MT, Musselshell County, MT, Petroleum County, MT, Phillips County, MT, Stillwater County, MT, Sweet Grass County, MT, Wheatland County, MT

The radar

The Great Falls radar (KTFX), 159 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:08 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 watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

The nearest sounding before it

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 12:00Z, 5.1 hours before the alert went out and 101 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 2011-07-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 88 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 2011-07-14The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -25 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
88 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-148 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1371 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
88 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.

753 
ACUS11 KWNS 141704
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 141704 
MTZ000-141900-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 1613
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1204 PM CDT THU JUL 14 2011

AREAS AFFECTED...CNTRL MT

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH LIKELY 

VALID 141704Z - 141900Z

A WATCH LIKELY WILL BE NEEDED AT SOME POINT THIS AFTERNOON.  CURRENT
INDICATIONS ARE THIS MAY BE CLOSER TO 20Z...BUT AN ISOLATED SEVERE
THREAT MAY DEVELOP EARLIER.

LOW-LEVEL LAPSE RATES ARE BEGINNING TO STEEPEN WITH INSOLATION...
AND AT LEAST POCKETS OF MODERATE BOUNDARY LAYER CAPE UP TO AROUND
1000+ J/KG APPEAR POSSIBLE WITHIN THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS... BEFORE
BECOMING MORE WIDESPREAD TOWARD THE 20-22Z TIME FRAME.  AS A
RESULT...RECENT INTENSIFYING TRENDS TO A STORM WEST/NORTHWEST OF
LEWISTOWN PROBABLY WILL CONTINUE.  ON THE EDGE OF A BELT OF 40-50+
KT SOUTHWESTERLY 500 MB FLOW...VERTICAL SHEAR IS ALREADY SUFFICIENT
FOR SUPERCELLS...AND THE RISK FOR SEVERE HAIL/WIND COULD INCREASE
ACROSS PARTS OF NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA AS EARLY AS 18-19Z.  A MORE
SUBSTANTIVE OR WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER THREAT... THOUGH...IS STILL
NOT EXPECTED UNTIL LATER THIS AFTERNOON...AIDED BY BETTER FORCING
ASSOCIATED WITH UPSTREAM CLOSED LOW/UPPER TROUGH GRADUALLY LIFTING
INTO ALBERTA/SASKATCHEWAN.

..KERR.. 07/14/2011

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

ATTN...WFO...BYZ...GGW...TFX...

LAT...LON   47071084 48171015 48960963 48900758 48640684 47200724
            45390891 45170987 45881107 47071084

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 13, 7:33 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBlaine, Cascade, Chouteau, Fergus, Flathead, Glacier and 8 more57 min
Jul 14, 1:56 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBig Horn, Blaine, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Daniels and 23 more9 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Montana, 2011Every mesoscale discussion in 2011

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.