Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 3, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 11, 1986Barnes County, Griggs County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 11, 1986, 9:39 PM CDT for Barnes County, Griggs County, North Dakota. It was in force for 66 min. 3 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 11, 1986, 9:39 PM CDT (02:39 UTC)
Expired: May 11, 1986, 10:45 PM CDT
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

Counties Barnes County, ND, Griggs County, ND

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where
May 11, 9:55 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Griggs, ND
May 11, 10:30 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Griggs, ND
May 11, 10:30 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Griggs, ND

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 00:00Z, 2.7 hours before the alert went out and 199 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: 296 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -33 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2338 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 12 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 121 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KFAR 120239
SVRFAR
NDC003-039-120345-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FARGO ND
939 PM CDT SUN MAY 11 1986

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1045 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTIES OF

EAST CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA...NORTHWEST BARNES...EXTREME SOUTHERN 
 GRIGGS AND VALLEY CITY

AT 925 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES EAST OF
JAMESTOWN NORTH DAKOTA MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MILES AN HOUR.

REMEMBER...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS
OF 58 MPH AND/OR HAIL 3/4 OF AN INCH OR LARGER...DEADLY LIGHTNING...
AND HEAVY RAINS THAT CAN QUICKLY FLOOD A LOW LYING AREA.

THESE STORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE A TORNADO WITH LITTLE
OR NO ADVANCE WARNING...SO YOU SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT AND BE
PREPARED TO MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY.

THIS SLOW MOVING THUNDERSTORM MAY CAUSE FLOODING OF SMALL? STREAMS
AND UNDERPASSES.

SPIES

What forecasters said that day

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

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 11, 8:17 PM CDT, 1 hour 22 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FARGO ND
815 PM CDT SUN MAY 11 1986

415 PM CDT...LANGDON ND SHERIFFS OFFICE REPORTED PEA SIZE HAIL 15
             MILES WEST OF LANGDON ND IN WESTERN CAVALIER COUNTY.

540 PM CDT...LANGDON ND SHERIFFS OFFICE REPORTED PEA TO MARBLE SIZE
             HAIL IN LANGDON ND IN CENTRAL CAVALIER COUNTY.

755 PM CDT...PEMBINA ND COUNTY SHERIFF REPORTED EGG SIZE HAIL AT
             MOUNTAIN ND IN SOUTHWEST PEMBINA COUNTY.
SPIES

The office that day

Everything else NWS Grand Forks, ND issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 11, 8:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Pembina	69 min
May 11, 10:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Barnes, Griggs, Steele	59 min
May 12, 12:08 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Grand Forks	67 min
May 12, 2:32 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cass	58 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Dakota, 1986 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1986

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.