Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1987

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Bismarck, ND

July 19, 1987Sioux County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 19, 1987, 9:58 PM CDT for Sioux County, North Dakota. It was in force for 32 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 19, 1987, 9:58 PM CDT (02:58 UTC)
Expired: Jul 19, 1987, 10:30 PM CDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties

County 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, 3.0 hours before the alert went out and 78 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 200258
TORBIS
NDC085-200330-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 930 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY OF

SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA...CENTRAL SIOUX

AT 855 PM MDT WEATHER RADAR DETECTED A POSSIBLE TORNADO
ALONG THE NORTH DAKOTA/SOUTH DAKOTA BORDER NEAR THE TOWN
OF WATAUGA SOUTH DAKOTA...60 MILES SOUTHWEST OF BISMARCK
MOVING EAST 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 WINDO7WS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES.

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

 RSL/0257Z

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, 7:25 PM CDT, 2 hours 33 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, 8:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Adams	58 min
Jul 19, 9:22 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Adams, Sioux	38 min
Jul 19, 10:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Grant	58 min
Jul 19, 10:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Adams	26 min
Jul 19, 10:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Sioux	59 min
Jul 19, 11:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Emmons	72 min
Jul 19, 11:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Sioux	68 min
Jul 20, 12:58 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Emmons, Logan, McIntosh	62 min
Jul 20, 1:25 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Bowman	65 min
Jul 20, 2:31 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Hettinger	29 min
Jul 20, 2:46 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Hettinger	29 min
Jul 20, 3:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Grant, Hettinger, Slope	60 min
Jul 20, 3:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Bowman	60 min
Jul 20, 3:53 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Morton	37 min
Jul 20, 4:17 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Adams, Hettinger	58 min
Jul 20, 5:07 AM CDT	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.