Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 1987

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Duluth, MN

September 5, 1987Lake County, Minnesota

NWS Duluth, MN issued this tornado warning at Sep 5, 1987, 5:16 PM CDT for Lake County, Minnesota. It was in force for 29 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Sep 5, 1987, 5:16 PM CDT (22:16 UTC)
Expired: Sep 5, 1987, 5:45 PM CDT
In force: 29 min
Issued by: NWS Duluth, MN
Area: Whole counties

County Lake County, MN

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

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 183 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 934 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 114 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 KDLH 052216
TORDLH
MNC075-052245-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO AND SPECIAL MARINE WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
516 PM CDT SAT SEP 5 1987

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO AND SPECIAL 
MARINE WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 545 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE 
FOLLOWING COUNTY OF

NORTHEAST MINNESOTA...SOUTHERN LAKE
...THIS WARNING ALSO INCLUDES THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS FOR THE
COUNTY JUST MENTIONED


AT 5.02 PM A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN OVER THOMAS LAKE..20 MILES NORTH
OF TWO HARBORS.  THE TORNADO WAS MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST.
AN AIRPLANE HANGAR ON THOMAS LAKE HAS BEEN BLOWN DOWN AS REPORTED
BY A DEPUTY SHERIFF.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE IN
THE PATH OF A TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF AVAILABLE.
OTHERWISE..GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.
AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR
GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

BROCKEL

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, Sep 5, 4:34 PM CDT, 42 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH, MN
435 PM CDT SAT SEP 5 1987

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IN ST LOUIS AND CARLTON COUNTIES...

AT 430 PM CDT DULUTH RADAR DETECTED A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER
SOUTHERN ST LOUIS COUNTY AND NORTHERN CARLTON COUNTY.  THE LINE OF
OF STORMS STRETCHED FROM 25 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF DULUTH NEAR
WALES TO 35 MILES SOUTHWEST OF DULUTH NEAR CROMWELL. THESE STORMS MAY
CONTAIN SMALL HAIL..STRONG WINNDS AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING.

THE STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MILES AN HOUR.

BE ALERT TO CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND SEEK A PLACE OF SAFETY
IF THESE STORMS THREATEN YOU.

BROCKEL

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 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.