Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 38, NWS Twin Cities, MN

August 2, 1988Todd County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 2, 1988, 12:25 AM CDT for Todd County, Minnesota. It was in force for 50 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 2, 1988, 12:25 AM CDT (05:25 UTC)
Expired: Aug 2, 1988, 1:15 AM CDT
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Whole counties

County Todd 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, 5.4 hours before the alert went out and 169 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: 895 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -31 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2569 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 72 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 56 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSTC 020537 COR
SVRSTC
MNC153-020615-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING ...CORRECT EFFECTIVE TIME
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST CLOUD MN
1225 AM CDT TUE AUG 2 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  115 AM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY OF
CENTRAL MINNESOTA:

                  TODD

INCLUDING THE CITIES OF

BERTHA...CLARISSA...BROWERVILLE AND LONG PRIARIE


AT 1222 AM CDT THE TODD COUNTY CIVIL DEFENSE DIRECTOR REPORTED TREES
AND POWER LINES DOWN NEAR EAGLE BEND IN NORTHWESTERN TODD COUNTY...25

MILES NORTHEAST OF ALEXANDRIA MINNESOTA. THIS AREA OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH YOU SHOULD PREPARE
FOR DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...LARGE HAIL...AND DEADLY
LIGHTNING.  BOATERS SHOULD MOVE OFF LAKES TO NEARBY SHELTER. PEOPLE
OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE STRONG BUILDINGS BUT STAY AWAY FROM
WINDOWS.

NISTLER

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, Aug 1, 6:50 PM CDT, 5 hours 35 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MINNEAPOLIS/ST PAUL MN
648 PM CDT MON AUG 1 1988

...TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND NORTHERN MINNESOTA...ALONG
   WITH EXTREME NORTHWEST WISCONSIN AND ADJACENT AREAS OF LAKE SUPERIOR
   UNTIL 10 PM CDT...

AT 630 PM CDT...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED IN A
LINE EASTWARD FROM FARGO..NORTH DAKOTA..THROUGH DETROIT LAKES..TO PEQUOT
LAKES IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA..TO MOOSE LAKE..THEN EAST AND SOUTHEAST OF
DULUTH NEAR BRULE IN NORTHWEST WISCONSIN.

THIS AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WAS LOCATED ABOUT 30 MILES TO
EITHER SIDE OF THE ABOVE DENOTED LINE.

DETROIT LAKES REPORTED HEAVY RAIN..PEA SIZE HAIL..AND BRIEF WIND GUSTS
IN EXCESS OF 60 MILES AN HOUR...AS ONE THUNDERSTORM RUMBLED THROUGH THAT
AREA.
.
HEAVY RAIN AND POSSIBLE GUSTY WINDS WERE NOTED BETWEEN SANDSTONE AND
MOOSE LAKE IN EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA..AND NEAR AITKIN..NORTH OF
MILLE LACS LAKE.

MOVEMENT WAS NORTH AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.
SJC

Special weather statement, Aug 1, 11:19 PM CDT, 1 hour 6 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST CLOUD MN
1110 PM CDT MON AUG 1 1988

...HEAVY RAINFALL AND PEA SIZED HAIL WITH STRONG WINDS IN
   NORTHERN TODD COUNTY...

AT 1106 PM CDT THE TODD COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT REPORTED PEA
SIZED HAIL...HEAVY RAINFALL AND STRONG WINDS IN NORTHERN TODD
COUNTY AROUND BROWERVILLE AND CLARISSA...25 MILES NORTHEAST OF
ALEXANDRIA.  RADAR AT 1108 PM CDT WAS SHOWING AND AREA OF
THUNDERSTORMS IN NORTHERN TODD COUNTY WHICH WAS MOVING VERY
SLOWLY SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH. PERSON IN TODD COUNTY INCLUDING THE
 CITIES OF LONG PRAIRIE...BROWERVILLE...CLARISSA...EAGLE BEND AND
HEWITT SHOULD BE ON THE ALERT FOR STRONG GUSTY WINDS...HEAVY
RAINFALL AND SMALL HAIL UNTIL 1 AM TUESDAY MORNING.

NISTLER
                                                                   Z

The office that day

Everything else NWS Twin Cities, MN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 2, 12:43 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Morrison	47 min
Aug 2, 3:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Carver, Hennepin	52 min
Aug 2, 3:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Sherburne	30 min
Aug 2, 3:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Anoka, Hennepin	28 min
Aug 2, 3:49 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Anoka, Ramsey, Washington	41 min
Aug 2, 4:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Washington	15 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 1988 Every 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.