Alert archive / Montana / Special Weather Statements in 2012

Special Weather Statement, NWS Missoula, MT

July 9, 2012Ravalli County, Montana

NWS Missoula, MT issued this special weather statement at Jul 9, 2012, 4:25 PM MDT for Ravalli County, Montana. It was in force for 65 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 9, 2012, 4:25 PM MDT (22:25 UTC)
Expired: Jul 9, 2012, 5:30 PM MDT
In force: 65 min
Issued by: NWS Missoula, MT

County Ravalli County, MT

The radar

The Missoula radar (KMSX), 59 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:25 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

Great_falls, MT (KTFX), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 296 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: 1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 3045 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -15 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 44 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.

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What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this special weather statement went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Missoula, MT wrote its last area forecast discussion before this special weather statement went out at Jul 9, 2:14 PM MDT, 2 hours 11 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 9, 2:14 PM MDT, 2 hours 11 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Missoula MT
214 PM MDT Mon Jul 9 2012

.DISCUSSION...A very hot upper level ridge continues to be the
main weather feature this afternoon...but there are a few imminent
changes. The ridge axis will slide to east of the divide over the
next 24 hours. Subtropical moisture on the westward side of the
ridge is already producing showers and thunderstorms over Idaho
County...and this is beginning to show better eastward
progression. The greater lightning potential has prompted a red
flag warning for north central Idaho and areas in and around the
Bitterroot National Forest.

With the ridge moving east...Tuesday and Wednesday won't get
quite as hot...but valley temps should still reach into the low
90s. There will still be a threat of afternoon/evening
thunderstorms Tuesday but the focus will be more over southwest
Montana.

There is high confidence the ridge will rebuild Thursday through
the end of the week resulting in another warming trend. And
impulses of subtropical moisture will again provide a threat of
late day thunderstorms.

&&

.AVIATION...The ridge continues to dominate the weather across the
Northern Rockies, even as the ridge axis is shifting east. High
pressure over the 4-corners region continues to pump monsoon
moisture and instability into the area, mainly affecting Central
Idaho and Southwestern Montana. Afternoon thunderstorms have
initiated over the mountains, and will stay anchored over the
mountains this afternoon. An impulse moving through central Idaho
this afternoon will enhance the thunderstorms and help them break
off from the mountains this evening. Terminals most likely
impacted by thunderstorms will be KGIC, KSMN, KMSO, and KBTM.

&&

.MSO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MT...RED FLAG WARNING until 10 PM MDT this evening
     Bitterroot/Sapphire Mountains...Missoula/Bitterroot Valleys.

     FIRE WEATHER WATCH from Tuesday afternoon through Tuesday
     evening Butte/Blackfoot Region.

ID...RED FLAG WARNING until 9 PM PDT this evening Northern Clearwater
     Mountains...Orofino/Grangeville Region.

     RED FLAG WARNING until 9 PM PDT this evening Lower Hells
     Canyon/Salmon River Region...Southern Clearwater Mountains.

     RED FLAG WARNING until Midnight MDT tonight Eastern Lemhi County.

&&

Whitmore/Leach

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 9, 4:25 PM MDT, 0 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
425 PM MDT MON JUL 9 2012

IDZ006-MTZ004>006-043-092330-
SOUTHERN CLEARWATER MOUNTAINS-
BITTERROOT/SAPPHIRE MOUNTAINS-BLACKFOOT REGION-LOWER CLARK FORK
REGION-MISSOULA/BITTERROOT VALLEYS-
425 PM MDT MON JUL 9 2012

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR WESTERN RAVALLI...CENTRAL
MISSOULA...NORTHEASTERN IDAHO AND EASTERN MINERAL COUNTIES UNTIL 530
PM MDT/430 PM PDT/...

AT 420 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM 18 MILES WEST OF LOLO...OR 24 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
MISSOULA...MOVING EAST AT 10 MPH.

WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM AND WELL AHEAD
OF THE STORM.

LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM
INCLUDE...MISSOULA...HAMILTON...WOODSIDE...ALBERTON...VICTOR...LOLO..
.
FLORENCE...STEVENSVILLE...FRENCHTOWN...EVARO...PINESDALE...GRANTSDALE
. ..CORVALLIS...NINEMILE...HUSON AND BELL CROSSING.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR AREA...GO INDOORS AND STAY
AWAY FROM WINDOWS. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...MOVE TO A WELL
PROTECTED AREA.

&&

LAT...LON 4707 11400 4574 11408 4576 11454 4659 11452
      4707 11447
TIME...MOT...LOC 2224Z 250DEG 5KT 4670 11443

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 9, 3:33 AM MDT	Fire Weather Watch	MSO	Beaverhead, Deer Lodge, Granite, Jefferson, Madison, Powell and 1 more	24 hr
Jul 9, 10:05 AM MDT	Red Flag Warning	MSO	Ravalli	12 hr
Jul 9, 5:48 PM MDT	Areal Flood Advisory	MSO	Ravalli	60 min

Nearby

Special Weather Statements in Montana, 2012 Every special weather statement 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.