Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 53, NWS Twin Cities, MN

August 11, 1988Isanti County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 11, 1988, 3:14 PM CDT for Isanti County, Minnesota. It was in force for 46 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 11, 1988, 3:14 PM CDT (20:14 UTC)
Expired: Aug 11, 1988, 4:00 PM CDT
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Whole counties

County Isanti 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 12:00Z, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 83 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 2519 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -56 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -18 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 KMSP 112014
SVRMSP
MNC059-112100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MINNEAPOLIS MN
314 PM CDT THU AUG 11 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 400 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTY

   IN THE EAST CENTRAL PART OF MINNESOTA
      ISANTI

AT 310 PM..WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR
THE TOWN OF PRINCETON WHICH IS 15 MILES WEST OF CAMBRIDGE OR
ABOUT 30 MILES EAST OF ST CLOUD.

THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS MOVING EAST SOUTHEAST AT 20 MILES
AN HOUR AND WILL BE AFFECTING AREAS NEAR..WEST POINT..CAMBRIDGE
AND ISANTI.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...
DESTRUCTIVE HAIL..DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. FOR YOUR
PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR
HOME OR BUSINESS. HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO DON`T DRIVE
INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS) THE ROAD. ALSO REMEMBER SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH
LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.

WJH

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

Local storm report, Aug 11, 1:20 PM CDT, 1 hour 54 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST. CLOUD MN
120 PM CDT THU AUG 11 1988

...ATTN SELS...PRELIMINARY STORM REPORT FROM AUG 11 1988.

1215 PM CDT   LIGHTNING STRIKE FATALITY.  ONE PERSON IN AI BOAT
              ON SAUK LAKE...3 MILES NORTH OF SAUK CENTRE MINNESOTA..
              38 MILES WEST-NORTHWEST OF ST. CLOUD.  RELAYED REPORT
              FROM STEARNS COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT.

FRASER

Special weather statement, Aug 11, 2:07 PM CDT, 1 hour 7 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST CLOUD MN
200 PM CDT THU AUG 11 1988

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MOVING ACROSS CENTRAL MINNESOTA...

AT 200 PM CDT A BAND OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM LONG
PRAIRIE...25 MILES NORTHEAST OF ALEXANDRIA...TO JUST NORTHWEST OF THE
TWIN CITIES. THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED ABOUT 20 MILES
SOUTHEAST OF LONG PRAIRIE AND ANOTHER STRONG STORM ABOUT 10 MILES
WEST OF ST CLOUD.

AT 155 PM CDT THE LONG PRAIRIE SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT REPORTED PEA SIZE
HAIL NEARLY COVERING THE GROUND ALONG WITH BRIEF HEAVY RAIN.
PERSONS IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA CAN EXPECT SMALL HAIL...BRIEF HEAVY RAIN
AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AS THESE STORMS MOVE EAST AT 15 MPH.

YOUNG

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 11, 2:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Mille Lacs, Sherburne	48 min
Aug 11, 3:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Sherburne	55 min
Aug 11, 4:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Anoka, Isanti	41 min
Aug 11, 4:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Anoka, Ramsey, Washington	59 min
Aug 11, 6:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Mille Lacs, Morrison	60 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.