Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Bismarck, ND

August 16, 1988Renville County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Aug 16, 1988, 8:47 PM CDT for Renville County, North Dakota. It was in force for 28 min. 2 reports 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: Aug 16, 1988, 8:47 PM CDT (01:47 UTC)
Expired: Aug 16, 1988, 9:15 PM CDT
In force: 28 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Renville County, ND

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
Aug 16, 9:00 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Renville, ND
Aug 16, 9:00 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Renville, ND

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

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 00:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 228 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: 1692 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -26 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2078 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 22 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBIS 170147
TORBIS
NDC075-170215-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
847 PM CDT TUE AUG 16 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 915 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE NORTH CENTRAL PART OF NORTH DAKOTA
      NORTHERN RENVILLE

AT 842 PM CDT A TORNADO WAS REPORTED 5 MILES SOUTH OF SHERWOOD
OR 40 MILES NORTH OF MIuNOT MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 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.

 RSL

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, Aug 16, 8:17 PM CDT, 30 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
815 PM CDT TUE AUG 16 1988

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THE CANADIAN BORDER...

AT 810 PM CDT WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS MOVING
EAST AT 30 MPH ALONG THE CANADIAN BORDER NEAR SHERWOOD NORTH DAKOTA...OR
45 MILES NORTH OF MINOT.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY CONTAIN SMALL HAIL...GUSTY WINDS OF 50 MPH...
AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. TOWNS NEAR THE PATH OF THESE THUNDERESTORMS INCLUDE
SHERWOOD...MOHALL...ANTLER...AND WESTHOPE.

IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES TAKE SHELTER INDOORS IMMEDIATELY.

LEBLANG

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 16, 8:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Bottineau	41 min
Aug 16, 9:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Bottineau, McHenry	46 min
Aug 16, 9:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Bottineau, Rolette	39 min
Aug 16, 10:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Pierce, Rolette	47 min
Aug 16, 10:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Rolette	31 min
Aug 16, 11:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Towner	43 min
Aug 16, 11:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Ramsey, Towner	29 min
Aug 16, 11:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Ramsey	53 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North 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.