Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 42, NWS Twin Cities, MN

August 3, 1988Goodhue County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 3, 1988, 7:41 PM CDT for Goodhue County, Minnesota. It was in force for 19 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 3, 1988, 7:41 PM CDT (00:41 UTC)
Expired: Aug 3, 1988, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 19 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Whole counties

County Goodhue 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, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 85 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: 2209 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -25 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1025 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 80 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 146 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.9
Supercell composite: 4.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KRST 040041
SVRRST
MNC049-040100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ROCHESTER MN
741 PM CDT WED AUG 3 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 800 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTY

   IN THE SOUTHEAST PART OF MINNESOTA
      NORTHEAST GOODHUE

THIS WARNING INCLUDES THE CITY OF RED WING...PRAIRIE ISLAND AND
LAKE PEPIN.

GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED AT RED WING MINNESOTA AT 7 30 PM
CDT.

THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

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

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

DOM

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 3, 2:00 PM CDT, 5 hours 41 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST CLOUD MN
158 PM CDT WED AUG 3 1988

...THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAYV RAINFALL MOVING INTO WESTERN
   STEARNS COUNTY...

AT 155 PM CDT RADAR SHOWED AN AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO
WESTERN STEARNS COUNTY WITH THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORM NEAR SAUK
CENTRE...38 MILES NORTHWEST OF ST CLOUD MINNESOTA. THE AREA OF
THUNDERSTORMS WAS MOVING EAST TO NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH AND SHOULD
REACH THE ST CLOUD AREA AROUND 230 PM CDT. THE STRONGEST
THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD MOVE TO THE NORTH OF THE CITY OF ST
CLOUD. PEOPLE IN STEARNS...SOUTHERN TODD AND SOUTHERN MORRISON
COUNTIES SHOULD BE ALERT TO HEAVY RAINFALL...POSSIBLE SMALL
HAIL...STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING STRIKES AS
THESE STORMS PAST THROUGH THE AREA.

NISTLER

Special weather statement, Aug 3, 2:41 PM CDT, 5 hours before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST CLOUD MN
240 PM CDT WED AUG 3 1988

...THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAINFALL FAILED TO MOVE INTO
   EASTERN STEARNS COUNTY AT 230 PM...

AT 238 PM CDT RADAR SHOWED AN AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS IN
POPE...DOUGLAS AND TODD COUNTY. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
THUNDERSTORMS HAS BEEN MORE NORTH INSTEAD OF EAST...THEREFORE THE
THE THUNDERSTORMS WHICH WERE EXPECTED TO MOVE IN THE ST CLOUD AREA
DID NOT DEVELOPE AT THE ANTICIPATED TIME.

NISTLER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 3, 10:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Chisago	42 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.