Alert archive / Washington / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2012

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 499

July 20, 201210 counties in Idaho; 6 counties in Montana; 16 counties in Washington

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Jul 20, 2012, 11:38 AM PDT for 10 counties in Idaho; 6 counties in Montana; 16 counties in Washington. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 20, 2012, 11:38 AM PDT (18:38 UTC)
Expired
Jul 20, 2012, 6:45 PM PDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 32 counties

Benewah County, ID, Bonner County, ID, Boundary County, ID, Clearwater County, ID, Idaho County, ID, Kootenai County, ID, Latah County, ID, Lewis County, ID, Nez Perce County, ID, Shoshone County, ID, Flathead County, MT, Lake County, MT, Lincoln County, MT, Mineral County, MT, Missoula County, MT, Sanders County, MT, Adams County, WA, Asotin County, WA, Chelan County, WA, Columbia County, WA, Douglas County, WA, Ferry County, WA, Garfield County, WA, Grant County, WA, Kittitas County, WA, Lincoln County, WA, Okanogan County, WA, Pend Oreille County, WA, Spokane County, WA, Stevens County, WA, Walla Walla County, WA, Whitman County, WA

The radar

The Spokane radar (KOTX), 28 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:38 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.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
20%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
5%
Ten or more severe wind reports
50%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
50%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
20%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
80%

Warnings issued inside it

33 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 20, 12:17 PM PDTFlash Flood WarningOTXAsotin28 min
Jul 20, 12:39 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXLatah, Nez Perce51 min
Jul 20, 12:42 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPDTBenton, Franklin, Walla Walla63 min
Jul 20, 12:57 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXLatah, Nez Perce48 min
Jul 20, 12:59 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXGrant46 min
Jul 20, 1:15 PM PDTFlash Flood WarningOTXGrant60 min
Jul 20, 1:15 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXGrant60 min
Jul 20, 1:18 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXBenewah, Latah, Nez Perce, Shoshone42 min
Jul 20, 1:34 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPDTColumbia, Walla Walla56 min
Jul 20, 1:46 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXDouglas, Grant44 min
Jul 20, 1:58 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMSOClearwater32 min
Jul 20, 2:00 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXBenewah, Latah, Shoshone45 min
Jul 20, 2:07 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXLatah, Nez Perce38 min
Jul 20, 2:09 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMSOMineral, Missoula, Ravalli, Sanders51 min
Jul 20, 2:18 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPDTColumbia25 min
Jul 20, 2:21 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXBonner, Kootenai39 min
Jul 20, 2:22 PM PDTFlash Flood WarningOTXOkanogan83 min
Jul 20, 2:26 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMSOClearwater, Idaho49 min
Jul 20, 2:29 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXGarfield, Whitman46 min
Jul 20, 2:34 PM PDTFlash Flood WarningOTXOkanogan86 min
Jul 20, 2:41 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXKootenai, Shoshone49 min
Jul 20, 2:47 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXOkanogan58 min
Jul 20, 2:58 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXShoshone47 min
Jul 20, 3:17 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXKootenai43 min
Jul 20, 3:20 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXBenewah, Kootenai, Latah40 min
Jul 20, 3:21 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMSOLincoln, Sanders39 min
Jul 20, 3:27 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXDouglas, Okanogan34 min
Jul 20, 3:31 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMSOLincoln, Mineral, Sanders59 min
Jul 20, 3:37 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXBonner, Boundary53 min
Jul 20, 3:47 PM PDTFlash Flood WarningOTXFerry, Okanogan88 min
Jul 20, 3:53 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMSOFlathead, Lincoln, Sanders67 min
Jul 20, 4:30 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOTXFerry, Okanogan30 min
Jul 20, 5:13 PM PDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMSOFlathead, Lake, Lincoln62 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Spokane, WA (KOTX), launched 12:00Z, 6.6 hours before the alert went out and 119 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, Spokane, WA at 12:00Z on 2012-07-20Temperature 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 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Spokane, WA at 12:00Z on 2012-07-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -1 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
2619 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
66 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 20, 9:32 AM PDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCNez Perce88 min
Jul 20, 1:29 PM PDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenewah, Bonner, Clearwater, Kootenai, Latah, Lewis and 2 more91 min
Jul 20, 1:58 PM PDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBroadwater, Cascade, Deer Lodge, Flathead, Glacier, Granite and 10 more92 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Washington, 2012Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Idaho, 2012Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Montana, 2012Every severe thunderstorm watch 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.