North platte tornado warning

[Justin McGinley]

Hey you guys there is a tornado warning in effect for Lincoln county in Nebraska. I check radar and I c nothing. Here are the pics. What does everyone else think they are looking at?


TORNADO WARNING
NEC111-240500-
/O.NEW.KLBF.TO.W.0009.100524T0429Z-100524T0500Z/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
1129 PM CDT SUN MAY 23 2010

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTH PLATTE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
NORTH CENTRAL LINCOLN COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA...

* UNTIL MIDNIGHT CDT

* AT 1127 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO. THIS DANGEROUS
STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR NORTH PLATTE...AND MOVING NORTH AT 45 MPH.

* THIS DANGEROUS STORM WILL AFFECT MAINLY RURAL AREAS OF NORTH
CENTRAL LINCOLN COUNTY...INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS HIGHWAY
97 MILE MARKER 10.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

TAKE COVER NOW. MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A
STURDY BUILDING. AVOID WINDOWS. IF IN A MOBILE HOME...A VEHICLE OR
OUTDOORS...MOVE TO THE CLOSEST SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER AND PROTECT
YOURSELF FROM FLYING DEBRIS.

 

[MatthewCarman]

They could have had a report from spotters or chasers that told them the storm had rotation or a funnel cloud etc.

 

[joel ewing]

North Platte Tornado?

You stated, "Platte County, Nebraska", which is the Columbus area.....half the state away in east central nebraska....fyi. It wasn't even in the area of play today at all.
This radar scan is out of the North Platte NWS. And I agree....a spotter could have called in rotation or more...prompting this warning.

 

[rdale]

They could have had a report from spotters or chasers that told them the storm had rotation or a funnel cloud etc.

No, otherwise they would have put that in the warning. Since it was "doppler indicated" that means nobody reported anything.

My guess is that you need to change the storm-motion that was used for computing the SRV to get a better look. Plus this is just low-level, it's possible there was better rotation on a higher tilt?

 

[MatthewCarman]

Good point Rdale. It would have been in the text if some one had seen a tornado. Joel I did look at the radar and see the warning for North Platte and not the county.

 

[Dawn Thieme]

True, but you do need to get your county right. It's Lincoln county, not Platte. Too bad Lincoln isn't in Lincoln County, NP in Platte, but it just isn't that way. Couldn't be any more confusing than the way it is!

 

[Justin McGinley]

O man i am sorry about that i should of know better than that.

 

[Dave Marshall]

Looks like maybe you're looking at Base Velocity? Unless the rotation is very strong or very close to the radar, Base Velocity is usually the next best thing to worthless, especially on the lower tilts. Storm Relative Velocity is definitely the way to go, and like rdale said, just because it looks linear right at the surface, doesn't mean it wasn't spinning away in the mid or upper levels.