Alert archive / Nebraska / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 912

May 26, 2012Sedgwick County, Colorado; 13 counties in Nebraska; 5 counties in Wyoming

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at May 26, 2012, 2:55 PM MDT for Sedgwick County, Colorado; 13 counties in Nebraska; 5 counties in Wyoming. It was in force for 2 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 26, 2012, 2:55 PM MDT (20:55 UTC)
Expired
May 26, 2012, 5:00 PM MDT
In force
2 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Chance of a watch
60%

Counties Sedgwick County, CO, Arthur County, NE, Banner County, NE, Box Butte County, NE, Cheyenne County, NE, Deuel County, NE, Garden County, NE, Keith County, NE, Kimball County, NE, Lincoln County, NE, Morrill County, NE, Perkins County, NE, Scotts Bluff County, NE, Sioux County, NE, Converse County, WY, Goshen County, WY, Laramie County, WY, Niobrara County, WY, Platte County, WY

The radar

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 123 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:00 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

Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 230 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, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2012-05-26Temperature 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, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2012-05-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 147 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
1629 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
147 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
148 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.

815 
ACUS11 KWNS 262055
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 262055 
NEZ000-COZ000-SDZ000-WYZ000-262300-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0912
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0355 PM CDT SAT MAY 26 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...PORTIONS SERN WY...WRN NEB...EXTREME N-CENTRAL/NERN
CO.

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH POSSIBLE 

VALID 262055Z - 262300Z

PROBABILITY OF WATCH ISSUANCE...60 PERCENT

SUMMARY...POTENTIAL IS INCREASING FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SVR
TSTMS...INCLUDING RISK OF SUPERCELLS AS WELL AS BOWING SEGMENTS. 
FULL SPECTRUM OF SVR IS POSSIBLE.

DISCUSSION...20Z SFC MESOANALYSIS SHOWED CYCLONE BETWEEN
DEN-GXY-FCL...WHICH SHOULD MOVE/REDEVELOP NNEWD OVER WY/NEB BORDER
THROUGH 03Z.  VERY SHARPLY DEFINED WARM FRONT WAS DRAWN FROM LOW
ENEWD NEAR LBF-ODX-OFK LINE...AND WILL MOVE NWD OUT OF NERN CO AND
OVER WRN/CENTRAL NEB IN STEP WITH SFC LOW.  DIFFUSE/DOUBLE DRYLINE
STRUCTURE WAS ANALYZED FROM FRONT SWD ACROSS ERN CO AND WRN
KS...WITH MOIST AXIS EXTENDING FROM SRN SANDHILLS TO N PLATTE RIVER
VALLEY OF WY.  CONSIDERABLE CONFLUENCE ALSO WAS NOTED IN LATTER
AREA...WHICH MAY REMAIN UNTIL MERGING WITH NWD-MOVING WARM-FRONTAL
ZONE.  BACKED FLOW FROM THAT AREA EWD OVER PANHANDLE AND SWRN
NEB...PRIOR TO WARM FROPA...WILL MAINTAIN ENHANCED LOW-LEVEL
SHEAR/HODOGRAPH SIZE IN SUPPORT OF SUPERCELL POTENTIAL FOR ANY
RELATIVELY DISCRETE CONVECTION IN THAT REGIME.  ELY/UPSLOPE FLOW
ALSO WILL REPRESENT LOW-LEVEL ASCENT IN SERN WY CONFLUENCE ZONE. 

N OF WARM FRONT...VIS IMAGERY SHOWS MARKED CLEARING OVER LARAMIE
COUNTY WY...SPREADING NWD ACROSS SRN PORTIONS PLATTE/GOSHEN
COUNTIES...AND SPREADING NWD ACROSS APPROXIMATELY SRN 1/2 OF NEB
PANHANDLE.  RELATED INSOLATION WILL ACT ON SFC DEW POINTS 50S F AND
STEEP MIDLEVEL LAPSE RATES TO SUPPORT ROUGHLY W-E ORIENTED CORRIDOR
OF 1500-2500 J/KG MLCAPE...JUXTAPOSED WITH 50-60 KT EFFECTIVE SHEAR
MAGNITUDE.  AIR MASS FARTHER N...ESPECIALLY FROM DGW-TOR-AIA LINE
NWD...HAS BEEN ENSHROUDED IN THICK LOW CLOUDS FOR MUCH OF
TODAY...WITH SOME DISPERSAL ONLY RECENTLY NOTED IN VIS IMAGERY. 
THIS AREA WILL TAKE LONGER TO DESTABILIZE...THOUGH AREAS AS FAR N AS
EXTREME SWRN SD AND NEWCASTLE REGION MAY BECOME FAVORABLE BEFORE
DARK.  CORRIDOR BETWEEN GCC AND CENTRAL BLACK HILLS WILL REPRESENT
SW-NE GRADIENT WITHIN WHICH MLCAPE WILL DIMINISH MARKEDLY.  AS
SUCH...PERSISTENCE OF SFC-BASED EFFECTIVE INFLOW PARCELS BECOME MORE
UNCERTAIN AS FAR N AS I-80.  RELATED CINH ALSO WILL BE SLOW TO ERODE
OVER CENTRAL/NRN SANDHILLS OF NEB...LEADING TO RELATIVELY LOWERED
NEAR-TERM SVR PROBABILITIES THERE.

..EDWARDS/CARBIN.. 05/26/2012

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

ATTN...WFO...LBF...UNR...BOU...CYS...RIW...

LAT...LON   40840488 41650496 42260514 42680538 42820588 42890613
            43380519 43360393 43060335 42300314 41660212 41510074
            41090062 40560078 40740215 40770405 40840488

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 26, 1:46 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaca119 min
May 25, 8:17 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Boone, Buffalo, Burt, Butler, Cass and 43 more88 min
May 25, 11:46 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBurt, Dakota, Thurston89 min
May 26, 12:58 AM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBoyd, Holt, Keya Paha, Knox, Rock92 min
May 26, 2:48 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Antelope, Boone, Buffalo, Burt, Butler and 50 more87 min
May 26, 3:48 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCArthur, Blaine, Boyd, Brown, Cherry, Custer and 15 more5 hr
May 26, 5:44 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArthur, Blaine, Brown, Cherry, Garden, Garfield and 9 more91 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Nebraska, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Wyoming, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Colorado, 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.