Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Sioux Falls, SD

July 23, 1988Brule County, South Dakota

NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued this tornado warning at Jul 23, 1988, 6:31 PM CDT for Brule County, South Dakota. It was in force for 29 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 23, 1988, 6:31 PM CDT (23:31 UTC)
Expired
Jul 23, 1988, 7:00 PM CDT
In force
29 min
Issued by
NWS Sioux Falls, SD
Area
Whole counties

County Brule County, SD

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

Aberdeen, SD (KHON), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 142 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 1988-07-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 43 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 1988-07-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 102 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
43 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-430 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1402 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
102 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
251 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFSD 232332
TORFSD
SDC015-240000-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
631 PM CDT SAT JUL 23 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SIOUX FALLS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  700 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA
          ...NORTHERN BRULE
 
AT 620 PM CDT A TORNADO WAS REPORTED NEAR OACOMA SOUTH DAKOTA MOVING
EAST AT 20 MPH.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.

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 23, 5:48 PM CDT, 43 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HURON SD
545 PM CDT SAT JUL 23 1988

AT 530 PM CDT...THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUED STRENGTHENING OVER EAST CENTRAL
AND NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA. NUMEROUS INTENSE THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED
IN A NEARLY SOLID 25 MILE WIDE LINE FROM THE NORTH DAKOTA LINE AT THE JAMES
RIVER TO 40 MILES EAST OF PIERRE.

HAIL AND STRONG WIND AS WELL AS VERY HEAVY RAIN IS LIKELY IN THE AREA FROM
PIERRE qAND MOBRIDGE TO CHAMBERLAIN AND SISSETON.

MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

SPRINGER

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Dakota, 1988Every tornado warning in 1988Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.