Alert archive / Nebraska / Red Flag Warnings in 2012

Red Flag Warning 1, NWS North Platte, NE

January 15, 201222 counties in Nebraska

NWS North Platte, NE issued this red flag warning at Jan 15, 2012, 12:29 PM MST for 22 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 5 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jan 15, 2012, 12:29 PM MST (19:29 UTC)
Expired: Jan 15, 2012, 5:00 PM MST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: NWS North Platte, NE

All 22 counties

Arthur County, NE, Blaine County, NE, Boyd County, NE, Brown County, NE, Cherry County, NE, Custer County, NE, Deuel County, NE, Garden County, NE, Garfield County, NE, Grant County, NE, Holt County, NE, Hooker County, NE, Keith County, NE, Keya Paha County, NE, Lincoln County, NE, Logan County, NE, Loup County, NE, McPherson County, NE, Rock County, NE, Sheridan County, NE, Thomas County, NE, Wheeler County, NE

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 8 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:27 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

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 12:00Z, 7.5 hours before the alert went out and 90 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 3003 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -50 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -17 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.

707 
WWUS83 KLBF 151929
RFWLBF

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
129 PM CST SUN JAN 15 2012

...CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS EXPECTED THROUGH THE AFTERNOON
SUNDAY...

.VERY HIGH TO EXTREME FIRE DANGER IS OCCURRING THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS
PORTIONS OF THE SAND HILLS. ABNORMALLY DRY AIR ACROSS THE
NORTHERN AND CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS WILL COMBINE WITH WIND GUSTS TO
25 MPH AND ABOVE AVERAGE TEMPERATURES TO PROMOTE THE HEIGHTENED
FIRE THREAT. RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES OF LESS THAN 10 PERCENT HAVE
BEEN REPORTED THIS AFTERNOON OVER THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN SAND
HILLS.

NEZ204-206-208-209-160000-
/O.NEW.KLBF.FW.W.0001.120115T1929Z-120116T0000Z/
EASTERN PANHANDLE/CRESCENT LAKE NWR-
SANDHILLS/VALENTINE NWR/NEBRASKA NATIONAL FOREST/
SAMUEL R MCKELVIE NATIONAL FOREST-
NIOBRARA VALLEY/FORT NIOBRARA NWR-LOUP RIVERS BASIN-
129 PM CST SUN JAN 15 2012 /1229 PM MST SUN JAN 15 2012/

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST /5 PM MST/ THIS
EVENING FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR THE SAND HILLS...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTH PLATTE HAS ISSUED A RED
FLAG WARNING FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...WHICH IS IN
EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST /5 PM MST/ THIS EVENING. 

* AFFECTED AREA...IN NEBRASKA...FIRE WEATHER ZONE 204 EASTERN 
  PANHANDLE/CRESCENT LAKE NWR...FIRE WEATHER ZONE 206 
  SAND HILLS/VALENTINE NWR/NEBRASKA NATIONAL FOREST/ SAMUEL R 
  MCKELVIE NATIONAL FOREST...FIRE WEATHER ZONE 208 NIOBRARA 
  VALLEY/FORT NIOBRARA NWR AND FIRE WEATHER ZONE 209 LOUP RIVERS 
  BASIN.

* WINDS...WEST 10 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 MPH.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AS LOW AS 10 PERCENT.

* IMPACTS...DRY VEGETATION WILL COMBINE WITH THESE WEATHER 
  CONDITIONS TO PROMOTE EXTREME FIRE BEHAVIOR.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW...OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF
STRONG WINDS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AND WARM TEMPERATURES WILL
CREATE EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH POTENTIAL.

&&

$$

HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/LBF

JACOBS

1 follow-up statement

195 
WWUS83 KLBF 152359
RFWLBF

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
559 PM CST SUN JAN 15 2012

NEZ204-206-208-209-160100-
/O.EXP.KLBF.FW.W.0001.000000T0000Z-120116T0000Z/
EASTERN PANHANDLE/CRESCENT LAKE NWR-
SANDHILLS/VALENTINE NWR/NEBRASKA NATIONAL FOREST/
SAMUEL R MCKELVIE NATIONAL FOREST-
NIOBRARA VALLEY/FORT NIOBRARA NWR-LOUP RIVERS BASIN-
559 PM CST SUN JAN 15 2012 /459 PM MST SUN JAN 15 2012/

...RED FLAG WARNING WILL EXPIRE AT 6 PM CST /5 PM MST/ THIS
EVENING FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY OVER THE EASTERN
PANHANDLE...THE SANDHILLS...THE NIOBRARA AND LOUP RIVER AREAS.

THE RED FLAG WARNING WILL EXPIRE AT 6 PM CST /5 PM MST/ THIS
EVENING. 

WIND OVER THE AREA HAD DIMINISHED TO 10 MPH OR LOWER. HOWEVER...
THE RELATIVE HUMIDITY WAS STILL 10 TO 15 PERCENT OVER THE
SANDHILLS AND THE SOUTHEAST PANHANDLE AND FIRE COULD STILL START
EASILY. 

$$

HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/LBF

Nearby

Red Flag Warnings in Nebraska, 2012 Every red flag warning in 2012

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.