Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 1986

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Sioux Falls, SD

May 29, 1986Cottonwood County, Minnesota

NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued this tornado warning at May 29, 1986, 4:31 PM CDT for Cottonwood County, Minnesota. It was in force for 29 min. 1 report 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 29, 1986, 4:31 PM CDT (21:31 UTC)
Expired
May 29, 1986, 5:00 PM CDT
In force
29 min
Issued by
NWS Sioux Falls, SD
Area
Whole counties

County Cottonwood County, MN

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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 29, 5:00 PM CDTHail 1.75Cottonwood, MN

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

Minneapolis, MN (KSTC), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 157 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, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 1986-05-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 1986-05-29The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 41 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
1481 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
41 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
64 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.

000 
TTAA00 KFSD 292131
TORFSD
MNC033-292200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
431 PM CDT THU MAY 29 1986

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 500 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY OF

SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...COTTONWOOD

SOME OF THE CITIES INCLUDED IN

AT 425 PM CDT  A TORNADO WAS REPORTED BY STATE RADIO ABOUT 10
MILES NORTH OF WINDOM. TREES WERE TORN DOWN AND BARN BUILDINGS
WERE DAMAGED. THE TORNADO WAS MOVING WEST AT 20 MPH.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO...YOU SHOULD GO TO A BASEMENT
SHELTER IF AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE GO TO A CENTRAL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FALOOR POSSIBLE. CARS AND MOBILE HOMES SHOULD BE ABANDONED FOR
A REINFORCED BUILDING.

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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 29, 11:56 AM CDT, 4 hours 35 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX CITY IA
1155 AM CDT THU MAY 29 1986

AT 1140 AM CDT THE SLOAN FIRE CHIEF RPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD EAST OF
SLOAN ON THE WEST SIDE OF I-29 MOVING NORTH. SEVERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
OFFICERS WERE SENT TO VERIFY THE FUNNEL AND COULD NOT SPOT IT OR THAT
IT HAD MOVED BACK INTO THE CLOUD. RADAR INDICATED A MODERATE SHOWER
IN THE AREA MOVING TO THE NORTHWEST AT 15 MILES AN HOUR.

PEOPLE IN SOUTHERN AND WESTERN WOODBURY COUNTY IN IOWA AND EASTERN
DAKOTA COUNTY IN NEBRASKA SHOULD BE ALERT AND TAKE COVER IF NECESSARY.

ROSNER

The office that day

Everything else NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 29, 5:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDCottonwood, Murray67 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 1986Every tornado warning in 1986Tornadoes 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.