Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1987

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Bismarck, ND

July 19, 1987Adams County, Sioux County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 19, 1987, 8:22 PM MDT for Adams County, Sioux County, North Dakota. It was in force for 38 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 19, 1987, 8:22 PM MDT (02:22 UTC)
Expired: Jul 19, 1987, 9:00 PM MDT
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties

Counties Adams 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, 2.4 hours before the alert went out and 111 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: 90 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -185 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1852 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 77 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBIS 200222
TORBIS
NDC001-085-200300-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
822 PM MDT SUN JUL 19 1987

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 900 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES OF

SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA...EXTREME EASTERN ADAMS AND EXTREME 
 WESTERN SIOUX

AT 815 PM MDT WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 10 MILES
NORTHEAST OF LEMMON SOUTH DAKOTA MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO...GO TO A BASEMENT SHELTER
IF AVAILABLE...OTHERWISE TO A CENTRAL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR...STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES.

THIS STORM IS ACCOMPANIED BY DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...LARGE HAIL...
VERY HEAVY RAIN...AND DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS.

 RSL/0220Z

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, Jul 19, 6:25 PM MDT, 1 hour 57 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
615 PM MDT SUN JUL 19 1987

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER SOUTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA...

AT 610 PM MDT RADAR INDICATED A SMALL GROUP OF INTENSIFYING
THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN CORNER OF NORTH DAKOTA.

THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED OVER THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF
THE STATE...25 MILES SOUTHWEST OF BOWMAN...OR 65 MILES SOUTHWEST
OF DICKINSON. THE THUNDERSTORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH AND
WILL LIKELY PASS NEAR THE TOWNS BOWMAN AND SCRANTON BEFORE 7 PM MDT.
VERY HEAVY RAIN...SMALL HAIL...GUSTY WINDS UP TO 50 MPH...AND
DANGEROUS LIGHTNING CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THE PASSAGE OF THIS
THUNDERSTORM.

ANOTHER THUNDERSTORM...WITH HEAVY RAIN...WAS LOCATED 25 MILES SOUTH
OF DICKINSON AND WILL PASS NEAR THE TOWNS OF REGENT AND MOTT.

IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.

LEBLANG

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 19, 7:17 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Adams	58 min
Jul 19, 8:58 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Sioux	32 min
Jul 19, 9:02 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Grant	58 min
Jul 19, 9:34 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Adams	26 min
Jul 19, 9:46 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Sioux	59 min
Jul 19, 10:48 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Emmons	72 min
Jul 19, 10:52 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Sioux	68 min
Jul 19, 11:58 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Emmons, Logan, McIntosh	62 min
Jul 20, 12:25 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Bowman	65 min
Jul 20, 1:31 AM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Hettinger	29 min
Jul 20, 1:46 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Hettinger	29 min
Jul 20, 2:15 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Grant, Hettinger, Slope	60 min
Jul 20, 2:15 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Bowman	60 min
Jul 20, 2:53 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Morton	37 min
Jul 20, 3:17 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Adams, Hettinger	58 min
Jul 20, 4:07 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Grant	68 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 1987 Every tornado warning in 1987 Tornadoes 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.