Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1989

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 2, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 29, 1989Otter Tail County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 29, 1989, 11:15 AM CDT for Otter Tail County, Minnesota. It was in force for 60 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 29, 1989, 11:15 AM CDT (16:15 UTC)
Expired: May 29, 1989, 12:15 PM CDT
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Otter Tail 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, 4.3 hours before the alert went out and 239 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: 601 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 174 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFAR 291615
SVRFAR
MNC111-291715-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FARGO ND
1115 AM CDT MON MAY 29 1989

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1215 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTIES

   IN THE WEST CENTRAL PART OF MINNESOTA
      OTTER TAIL...THE CITY OF FERGUS FALLS

AT 1115 AM CDT A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED OVER WILKIN
COUNTY MOVING EAST AT 45 MILES AN HOUR. THIS THUNDERSTORM HAD
PRODUCED DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL AS IT CROSSED SOUTHERN
NORTH DAKOTA.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WINDS 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 RAIN MAY FLOOD ROADWAYS QUICKLY
...AVOID DRIVING INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

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

ANDERSEN

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, May 29, 6:10 AM CDT, 5 hours 5 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FARGO ND
610 AM CDT MON MAY 29 1989

AT 600 AM CDT AN INTENSE THUNDERSTORM HAD DEVELOPED 20 MILES WEST OF
FARGO IN THE CASSELLTON/AMENIA NORTH DAKOTA AREA.  THIS STORM WAS
MOVING EAST AT 45 MILES AN HOUR AND WILL PASS THROUGH THE FARGO/
MOORHEAD AREA BETWEEN 615 AMD 645 AM CDT.   STRONG GUSTY WINDS...HAIL...
FREQUENT LIGHTNING STRIKES WILL ACCOMPANY THIS STORM AS IT MOVES EAST.
THIS STORM WILL BE MOVING ACROSS CLAY AND INTO BECKER COUNTIES OF
MINNESOTA BY 700 AM CDT.

OTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING INTO CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA
WEST OF JAMESTOWN.

STAY TUNED TO RADIO AND T.V. AS WELL AS NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER
STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.
EWENS

Special weather statement, May 29, 6:40 AM CDT, 4 hours 35 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FARGO ND
640 AM CDT MON MAY 29 1989

AT 630 AM CDT AN INTENSE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 10 MILES NORTHWEST
OF FARGO NEAR HARWOOD NORTH DAKOTA.  THIS STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 45
MILES AN HOUR AND LIKELY CONTAINS HAIL...STRONG GUSTY WINDS...DANGEROUS
LIGHTNING AND VERY HEAVY RAINS.  THIS STORM WILL CROSS INTO MINNESOTA
AND AFFECT CLAY...NORMAN AND NORTHERN BECKER COUNTIES BY 730 AM CDT.
SOME CITIES IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE GEORGETOWN...FELTON AND ULEN
MINNESOTA.

OTHERWISE...NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...A FEW WITH HEAVY RAIN..
CONTINUED IN A LARGE AREA OF LIGHT RAIN OVER EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND
NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.  SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING INTO WEST
CENTRAL MINNESOTA.  THE STRONGEST STORMS WERE FROM THE FARGO AREA TO
50 MILES NORTHEAST OF FARGO NEAR TWIN VALLEY MINNESOTA.

MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 45 MILES AN HOUR.
.
CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR STRONG THUNDERSTORMS TO CONTINUE
ACROSS THE REGION THIS MORNING.  STAY TUNED TO RADIO AND T.V. AS WELL
AS NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR LATER STATEMENTS.
EWENS

Special weather statement, May 29, 9:45 AM CDT, 1 hour 30 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FARGO ND
945 AM CDT MON MAY 29 1989

AT 930 AM CDT A STRONG THUNDERSTORM HAD DEVELOPED QUITE RAPIDLY NEAR
FERGUS FALLS...IN

The office that day

Everything else NWS Grand Forks, ND issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 29, 10:26 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Wilkin	64 min
May 29, 12:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Wilkin	69 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 1989 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1989

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.