Alert archive / North Dakota / Flash Flood Warnings in 1987

Flash Flood Warning 1, NWS Bismarck, ND

May 23, 1987Grant County, Morton County, Sioux County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this flash flood warning at May 23, 1987, 11:58 PM MDT for Grant County, Morton County, Sioux County, North Dakota. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 23, 1987, 11:58 PM MDT (05:58 UTC)
Expired
May 24, 1987, 3:00 AM MDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
NWS Bismarck, ND
Area
Whole counties

Counties Grant County, ND, Morton County, ND, Sioux County, ND

The radar

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

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 00:00Z, 6.0 hours before the alert went out and 63 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, Bismarck Municip, ND at 00:00Z on 1987-05-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 348 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Bismarck Municip, ND at 00:00Z on 1987-05-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 113 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 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
348 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-42 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1042 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
113 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
136 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBIS 240558
FFWBIS
NDC085-059-037-240900-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
1158 PM MDT SAT MAY 23 1987

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 300 AM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES OF

SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA...NORTHERN SIOUX...SOUTHERN MORTON AND 
 SOUTHERN GRANT

HEAVIER RAINS IN THE CEDAR CREEK AND CANNONBALL RIVER BASINS
HAVE CAUSED FLOODING ON THE CANNONBALL RIVER. THE SIOUX COUNTY
SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT REPORTED THE COUNTY ROAD SOUTH OF SHIELDS
WASHED OUT. ALSO PORTIONS OF HIGHWAY 6 WAS UNDER WATER.

STAY OUT OF DRY CREEK BEDS AND LOW LYING AREAS.  FLASH FLOODS CAN
OCCUR WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DRIVE OVER ROADS COVERED BY FLOOD WATERS.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood 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 23, 6:02 PM MDT, 5 hours 56 minutes before
KBIS 212040

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...CORRECTION...FOR TIMES...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
655 PM CDT SAT MAY 23 1987

AT 650 PM CDT NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED OVER SOUTH CENTRAL
NORTH DAKOTA. THESE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE INCREASED IN INTENSITY AS THEY
CONTINUED TO MOVE NORTH AT 15 MILES AN HOUR.

SMALL HAIL...GUSTY WINDS AND BRIEF HEAVY RAIN ARE POSSIBLE WITH THESE
THUNDERSTORMS.

AT 645 PM CDT A FUNNEL CLOUD WAS SIGHTED 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF
SELFRIDGE NORTH DAKOTA...50 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF BISMARCK.
Special weather statement, May 23, 6:43 PM MDT, 5 hours 15 minutes before
KBIS 212040

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
740 PM CDT SAT MAY 23 1987

AT 735 PM CDT THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUED OVER SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH
DAKOTA. THE MOST INTENSE ACTIVITY WAS LOCATED IN NORTHERN
SIOUX COUNTY OF NORTH DAKOTA...40 MILES SOUTH OF BISMARCK.
THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTH AT 15 MILES AN HOUR.

SMALL HAIL...GUSTY WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN ARE POSSIBLE WITH THESE
THUNDERSTORMS.

AT 710 PM CDT...1/4 INCH HAIL WAS REPORTED AT DICKINSON NORTH DAKOTA.

IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.
Special weather statement, May 23, 9:53 PM MDT, 2 hours 5 minutes before
KBIS 212040

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
1050 PM CDT SAT MAY 23 1987

AT 1040 PM CDT A LARGE AREA OF SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUED
OVER SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA. THE STRONGEST ACTIVITY WAS LOCATED
IN CENTRAL EMMONS COUNTY OF NORTH DAKOTA 45 MILES SOUTHEAST OF BISMARCK.
THIS ACTIVITY CONTINUED TO MOVE NORTHEAST AT 20 MILES AN HOUR.

SMALL HAIL...GUSTY WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN ARE POSSIBLE WITH THESE
THUNDERSTORMS.

DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS...HEAVY RAIN OCCURRED OVER
MUCH OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL SIOUX AND EASTERN GRANT COUNTIES OF NORTH
DAKOTA..50 MILES SOUTHEAST OF BISMARCK. CREEKS WERE RUNNING FULL BUT
NO FLOODING WAS REPORTED.

ANOTHER AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS HAS DEVELOPED OVER WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA
AN WILL MOVE INTO SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA BY SUNDAY MORNING.

SOME MINOR FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS IS POSSIBLE IN SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH
DAKOTA IF ADDITIONAL HEAVY pRAIN OCCURS LATER TONIGHT.

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in North Dakota, 1987Every flash flood warning in 1987

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.