Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 1, NWS Twin Cities, MN

March 24, 1988Houston County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 24, 1988, 6:23 PM CST for Houston County, Minnesota. It was in force for 52 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Mar 24, 1988, 6:23 PM CST (00:23 UTC)
Expired
Mar 24, 1988, 7:15 PM CST
In force
52 min
Issued by
NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area
Whole counties

County Houston 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

Minneapolis, MN (KSTC), launched 00:00Z, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 213 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, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 1988-03-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 1988-03-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -235 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
620 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
65 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-235 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
55 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 KRST 250023
SVRRST
MNC055-250115-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROCHESTER MN
623 PM CST THU MAR 24 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 715 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTY

   IN THE SOUTHEAST PART OF MINNESOTA
      HOUSTON

THIS WARNING INCLUDES THE CITY OF CALEDONIA..OF EXTREME SOUTHEAST
MINNESOTA.

AT 6 15 PM CST...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR THE CITY
OF SHELDON IN WESTER HOUSTON COUNTY.  THIS STORM WAS MOVING TO THE
EAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.  PERSONS IN THE CITY OF CALEDONIA SHOULD
BE ON THE ALERT FOR THIS STORM.

IF YOU ARE IN AN AREA THREATENED BY THE STORM...GO TO A REINFORCED
SHELTER AND PREPARE FOR DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY
RAIN...AND LIGHTNING.

REMEMBER...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE
TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  BE ON THE tLOOKOUT.

DWE

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm 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, Mar 24, 3:54 PM CST, 2 hours 29 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MINNEAPOLIS/ST PAUL MN
3 51 PM CST THU MAR 24 1988

AT 3 29 PM CST...SCATTERED LIGHT RAINSHOWERS MIXED WITH
THUNDERSTORMS WERE IN CENTRAL...EAST CENTRAL...SOUTH CENTRAL
AND SOUTHEAST MINNESOTA...AND WESTERN WISCONSIN.

THUNDERSTORMS IN SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA WERE MOVING INTO SOUTHEAST
MINNEOSTA...FROM SOUTH OF ST CLOUD THROUGH THE WESTERN SUBURBS OF THE
TWIN CITIES...SOUTH TO JUST WEST OF OWATONNA...ALBERT LEA AND INTO
IOWA.  THIS LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE THROUGH THE METROPOLITAN
TWIN CITIES FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST DURING THE RUSH HOUR.  PERSONS
SHOULD BE ALERT FOR REDUCED VISIBILITY FROM HEAVY RAIN...AND SOME STREET
FLOODING AROUND THE METRO AREA...ALSO MANY OF THE SMALL STREAMS AROUND
THE AREA ARE FILLING RAPIDLY FROM RUNOFF.

RAINSHOWERS EXTENDED ON THE NORTH FROM JUST SOUTH DULUTH...ON THE WEST
ALEXANDRIA AND MARSHALL...ON THE SOUTH INTO IOWA AND EAST INTO WISCONSON
NEAR MEDFORD AND WISCONSIN RAPIDS.
MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST 30 MPH.
DME

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 1988Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.