Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 2023

Tornado Warning 43, NWS Omaha, NE

July 4, 2023Platte County, Nebraska

NWS Omaha, NE issued this tornado warning at Jul 4, 2023, 4:21 PM CDT for Platte County, Nebraska. It was in force for 24 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 4, 2023, 4:21 PM CDT (21:21 UTC)
Expired: Jul 4, 2023, 4:45 PM CDT
In force: 24 min
Issued by: NWS Omaha, NE
Area: Storm-based polygon
Tornado: Radar indicated
Hail: 0.75 in

County Platte County, NE

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 100 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:24 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jul 4, 3:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 9.4 hours before the alert went out and 100 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: 772 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -163 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1508 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 17 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

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

NWS Omaha, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jul 4, 3:13 PM CDT, 1 hour 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 4, 3:13 PM CDT, 1 hour 8 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Omaha/Valley NE
313 PM CDT Tue Jul 4 2023

...Updated Forecast Discussion...

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 249 PM CDT Tue Jul 4 2023

Key Messages:

 - Severe storms across the area this evening with damaging winds
   the primary hazards. Locally large hail is possible as well,
   and there is a very small non-zero chance for a tornado.

 - Showers and a few thunderstorms continue through Wednesday
   morning.

 - Much cooler temperatures for the work week with highs in the
   70s and lows in the 50s.

Convection is deepening as of 3 PM this Independence Day
afternoon. Convergence has increased and deepened over the past
couple hours from Boone and Antelope counties east along an
outflow boundary in far southern Pierce, Wayne, and Thurston
counties. Expect initial updrafts to organize into supercell
structures, particularly along that outflow boundary where
horizontal vorticiaty is maximized. Instability is substantial
with very little inhibition, and while deep layer shear is not
particularly strong, there does appear to be enough turning with
height and enough length to the hodograph to favor development of
mid level mesocyclones at least early on in the life cycle.
However, over time, expect the convection to become more strongly
forced by the advancing cold front and the development of rather
strong outflow due to a fairly dry sub-cloud layer over much of
the forecast area. Thus, there will be a risk for severe wind
gusts and larger hail early on in the event as well as a non-zero
chance for a tornado in the vicinity of the outflow boundary. That
will transition to mainly an outflow driven severe wind hazard
with embedded areas of hail as we get later into the evening. It
will be interesting to see how/where the outflow is able to
support deep convection as the low level shear vectors are not
particularly favorable and it would seem there is a good chance
for outflow to run out ahead of the convection this evening. This
would promote some surprising winds well before storms arrive but
would also favor near-severe or sub-severe wind speeds in any
scenarios where the outflow gets way ahead of the convection.
Another thing to watch will be the slightly more organized MCS
progged to move east near the KS/NE border late this evening. This
MCS should be a bit more organized but will have to interact with
any surging outflow and convection from our local convection.
Where it all converges this could lead to a zone of relatively
greater severe wind potential across far southern NE but will see
how the evening plays out.

Showers and embedded storms will continue into the morning hours
Wednesday but the big difference for tomorrow will be the influx
of cooler temperatures. Really the next several days will be quite
pleasant with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s through the
work week...and climbing back into the 80s for the weekend. There
are a few low-end chances for rain with the best chance looking to
come Friday into Friday night and largely focused in the southern
part of the forecast area.

&&

.AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Wednesday afternoon)
Issued at 1227 PM CDT Tue Jul 4 2023

Main focus is on convective timing and tried to give the most
likely 2 hour window at all TAF sites. When storms pass through,
some locations will approach 50 kt winds or stronger with the
storms but unsure on exact locations relative to TAF sites at this
time. After the initial line of storms, will be periods of showers
or perhaps embedded TS for several hours before precip moves out
and some lower MVFR or perhaps even IFR ceilings build in. Some
uncertainty regarding cloud base height, but LNK seems to have
best chance for IFR.

&&

.OAX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NE...None.
IA...None.
&&

DISCUSSION...Barjenbruch
AVIATION...Barjenbruch

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 4, 3:15 PM CDT, 1 hour 6 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 4, 3:49 PM CDT, 32 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Local storm report, Jul 4, 4:11 PM CDT, 10 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

Local storm report, Jul 4, 4:17 PM CDT, 4 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The office that day

Everything else NWS Omaha, NE issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 4, 3:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Antelope, Madison, Pierce	51 min
Jul 4, 3:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Colfax, Madison, Platte, Stanton	52 min
Jul 4, 3:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Cedar	41 min
Jul 4, 3:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Madison, Pierce, Stanton, Wayne	36 min
Jul 4, 4:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Madison, Platte, Stanton	49 min
Jul 4, 4:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Platte	35 min
Jul 4, 4:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Madison, Stanton, Wayne	43 min
Jul 4, 5:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Colfax, Platte	44 min
Jul 4, 5:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Platte	46 min
Jul 4, 6:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Butler, Colfax, Dodge, Saunders	39 min
Jul 4, 6:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Butler	49 min
Jul 4, 6:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Butler, Lancaster, Saunders, Seward	49 min
Jul 4, 6:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Thurston	32 min
Jul 4, 6:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	OAX	Butler, Cass, Lancaster, Saline, Saunders, Seward	47 min
Jul 4, 6:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Burt, Cuming, Thurston	13 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 2023 Every tornado warning in 2023 Tornadoes in 2023

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.