Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Aberdeen, SD

July 12, 1988Brown County, South Dakota

NWS Aberdeen, SD issued this tornado warning at Jul 12, 1988, 9:20 PM CDT for Brown County, South Dakota. It was in force for 25 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: Jul 12, 1988, 9:20 PM CDT (02:20 UTC)
Expired: Jul 12, 1988, 9:45 PM CDT
In force: 25 min
Issued by: NWS Aberdeen, SD
Area: Whole counties

County Brown County, SD

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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jul 12, 9:52 PM CDT	Hail 2.75	Brown, SD

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

Aberdeen, SD (KHON), launched 00:00Z, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 77 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: 2861 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -38 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1651 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 185 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 447 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.2
Supercell composite: 18.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KABR 130220
TORABR
SDC013-130245-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
920 PM CDT TUE JUL 12 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 945 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE NORTHEAST PART OF SOUTH DAKOTA
      BROWN

SOME OF THE CITIES INCLUDED IN THIS WARNING ARE ABERDEEN...GROTON
HECLA

AT 915 PM CDT  RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR GROTON...20
MILES EAST OF ABERDEEN. THE STORM RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS WAS LOCATED
20 MILES NORTH OF ABERDEEN.

 AT 858 PM CDT A BROWN COUNTY DEPUTY REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD FROM
THIS STORM.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF T8HIS TORNADO...YOU SHOULD GO TO A BASEMENT
SHELTER IF AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE GO TO A CENTRAL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE. CARS AND MOBILE HOMES SHOULD BE ABANDONED FOR
A REINFORCED BUILDING.

KEEFE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 12, 8:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Brown	57 min
Jul 12, 8:49 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Brown	26 min
Jul 12, 9:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Brown	27 min
Jul 12, 10:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Brown, Spink	59 min
Jul 12, 10:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Clark	58 min
Jul 12, 11:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Clark, Codington, Hamlin	69 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Dakota, 1988 Every tornado warning in 1988 Tornadoes in 1988

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.