Alert archive / Wisconsin / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1989

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 94, NWS Twin Cities, MN

August 31, 1989Saint Croix County, Wisconsin

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 31, 1989, 5:19 PM CDT for Saint Croix County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 56 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 31, 1989, 5:19 PM CDT (22:19 UTC)
Expired: Aug 31, 1989, 6:15 PM CDT
In force: 56 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Whole counties

County Saint Croix County, WI

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, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 93 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: 856 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -162 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 599 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 248 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 247 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMSP 312221
SVRMSP
WIC109-312315-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MINNEAPOLIS MN
519 PM CDT THU AUG 31 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MINNEAPOLIS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  615 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN
          ...SOUTHERN ST CROIX
 
AT 515 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR BALDWIN WISCONSIN
ABOUT 20 MILES EAST OF DOWNTOWN ST PAUL. TOWNS IN THE PATH OF THIS
STORM ARE HERSEY..WILSON AND BALDWIN.  THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
COMPLEX HAS SHOWN A HISTORY OF LARGE HAIL AND VERY HEAVY RAINS AS
IT MOVES EAST AT ABOUT 20 MILES AN HOUR.
 
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING..MOVE INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING
DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DON'T USE TELEPHONES OR ELECTRICAL
APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY. REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOS WITH LITTLE OR NO WARNING.
 
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 QUIHCKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

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 31, 11:45 AM CDT, 5 hours 34 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST CLOUD MN
1143 AM CDT THU AUG 31 1989

...THUNDERSTORMS INCREASING IN INTENSITY IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA WILL
MOVE INTO POPE COUNTY...

AT 1135AM CDT THUNDERSTORMS WERE INCREASING IN INTENSITY FROM JUST
SOUTH OF ALEXANDRIA TO JUST NORTH OF MORRIS...30 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
ALEXANDRIA. THESE STORMS WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH AND WIL
ENTER POPE COUNTY NEAR CYRUS BY 12 NOON. HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN AND
STRONG WINDS ARE POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS.

WDV

Local storm report, Aug 31, 2:03 PM CDT, 3 hours 16 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST CLOUD MN
200 PM CDT THU AUG 31 1989

...ATTN SELS...

PRELIMINARY STORM DATA REPORT FOR CENTRAL MINNESOTA FOR AUG 31:

1015 AM CDT    GOLF BALL HAIL     SOUTHERN TODD COUNTY...6 MILES
                                  NORTH OF SAUK CENTRE...40 MILES
                                  NORTHWEST OF ST CLOUD.

1034 AM CDT    ONE INCH HAIL      STEARNS COUNTY...ST ROSA...
                                  25 MILES NORTHWEST OF ST CLOUD.

1213 PM CDT    3/4 INCH HAIL      POPE COUNTY...LOWRY...12 MILES
                                  SOUTH OF ALEXANDRIA.

NISTLER

Special weather statement, Aug 31, 3:00 PM CDT, 2 hours 19 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MINNEAPOLIS/ST PAUL MN
250 PM CDT THU AUG 31 1989

STRONG AND IN SOME CASES SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE REGENERATED FROM
NEAR ST CLOUD TO JUST NORTH OF ANNANDALE ACROSS EASTERN STEARNS AND
FAR NORTHERN WRIGHT COUNTY.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR PARTS OF STEARNS..
SHERBURNE AND BENTON COUNTIES UNTIL 330 PM.

AT 245 PM..THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM NEAR LITCHFIELD AND ANNANDALE TO
ST CLOUD AND ON FURTHER EAST TOWARD CAMBRIDGE.

THE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR BUT THE MOST RECENT
DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN ALONG THE SOUTHWEST PORTION OF THE AREA ACROSS
WRIGHT AND MEEKER COUNTIES OR IN ARE[AS NORTHWEST OF MINNEAPOLIS.

PERSONS IN EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA SHOULD KEEP ABREAST OF THIS DEVELOPING
WEATHER SITUATION AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 31, 4:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Polk	67 min
Aug 31, 5:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Dunn, Pepin	32 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Wisconsin, 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.