Alert archive / Montana / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 1076

June 5, 20126 counties in Montana

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Jun 5, 2012, 4:21 PM MDT for 6 counties in Montana. It was in force for 84 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jun 5, 2012, 4:21 PM MDT (22:21 UTC)
Expired
Jun 5, 2012, 5:45 PM MDT
In force
84 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Broadwater County, MT, Golden Valley County, MT, Meagher County, MT, Stillwater County, MT, Sweet Grass County, MT, Wheatland County, MT

The radar

The Billings radar (KBLX), 140 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:24 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 146 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 2012-06-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 111 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 2012-06-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 234 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
111 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-628 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1113 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
234 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
311 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.

366 
ACUS11 KWNS 052221
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 052221 
MTZ000-052345-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 1076
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0521 PM CDT TUE JUN 05 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...SWRN/S-CNTRL MT

CONCERNING...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 359...

VALID 052221Z - 052345Z

THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 359
CONTINUES.

SUMMARY...GREATEST NEAR-TERM SEVERE THREAT EXISTS WITH MEAGHER
COUNTY SUPERCELL...BUT ADDITIONAL SUPERCELLS SHOULD DEVELOP IN A
TRAINING PATTERN TO THE SE. PRIMARY RISK WILL REMAIN LARGE
HAIL...BUT A BRIEF TORNADO AND ISOLATED DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE
PROBABLE AS WELL.

DISCUSSION...MEAGHER COUNTY SUPERCELL HAS HAD A HISTORY OF REPORTED
HAIL TO 2 INCHES AND FUNNEL CLOUDS/POSSIBLE BRIEF TORNADO. THIS CELL
SHOULD EVENTUALLY PROPAGATE N OF THE LITTLE BELT MTNS...INTO A MORE
FAVORABLE TORNADIC ENVIRONMENT IN WW 360. ADDITIONAL SUPERCELL
DEVELOPMENT IS PROBABLE TO THE SE...IN AN ENVIRONMENT CHARACTERIZED
BY LOWER TO MIDDLE 50S SURFACE DEW POINTS. RAP-BASED RUC GUIDANCE
APPEARS TO BE GROSSLY MISREPRESENTING THE THERMODYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT
IN BOTH ANALYSIS AND 1-HR FORECASTS /SURFACE DEW POINTS AROUND 15 TO
30 DEG F LOWER COMPARED TO OBS AT LWT AND BIL/. WHICH IS RESULTING
IN SUBSTANTIALLY WEAKER MLCAPE IN MESOANALYSIS DATA COMPARED TO
OLDER GENERATION RUC GUIDANCE. THIS LATTER VERSION SUGGESTS MLCAPE
IS AS HIGH AS 1000-1500 J/KG WITHIN WW 359...WHICH APPEARS MORE
REASONABLE BASED ON MODIFIED 19Z TFX RAOB. GIVEN THE STRENGTH OF THE
FORCING AND DEEP-LAYER SHEAR ASSOCIATED WITH THE NEGATIVELY-TILTED
SHORT WAVE IMPULSE CENTERED ALONG THE ERN ID/SWRN MT BORDER...THREAT
FOR SUPERCELLS WILL REMAIN HIGH.

..GRAMS.. 06/05/2012

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

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

LAT...LON   46171188 46551205 46761149 46981100 46820917 46370885
            45980884 45580900 45360947 45350982 45741095 46171188

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 4, 6:02 PM MDTTornado WatchSPCBlaine, Cascade, Chouteau, Fergus, Glacier, Hill and 6 more7 hr
Jun 4, 7:42 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCGranite, Lake, Lincoln, Mineral, Missoula, Ravalli and 1 more93 min
Jun 4, 8:22 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBlaine, Chouteau, Fergus, Hill, Petroleum, Phillips and 1 more83 min
Jun 4, 10:08 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCLake, Lincoln, Mineral, Sanders67 min
Jun 4, 10:48 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCLiberty, Pondera, Teton, Toole57 min
Jun 5, 12:54 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBroadwater, Carbon, Gallatin, Golden Valley, Madison, Meagher and 6 more2 hr
Jun 5, 1:37 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBroadwater, Carbon, Gallatin, Golden Valley, Jefferson, Madison and 5 more7 hr
Jun 5, 1:56 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBlaine, Cascade, Chouteau, Fergus, Glacier, Hill and 8 more2 hr
Jun 5, 2:37 PM MDTTornado WatchSPCBlaine, Cascade, Chouteau, Fergus, Glacier, Hill and 6 more8 hr
Jun 5, 4:48 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCascade, Chouteau, Fergus, Glacier, Golden Valley, Judith Basin and 6 more87 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Montana, 2012Every mesoscale discussion 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.