Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1991

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 30, 1991Sargent County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at May 30, 1991, 1:24 PM CDT for Sargent County, North Dakota. It was in force for 36 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 30, 1991, 1:24 PM CDT (18:24 UTC)
Expired: May 30, 1991, 2:00 PM CDT
In force: 36 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Sargent County, ND

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KHON), launched 12:00Z, 6.4 hours before the alert went out and 147 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: 11 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -251 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1055 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 116 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 240 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 KFAR 301824
TORFAR
NDC081-301900-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FARGO ND
124 PM CDT THU MAY 30 1991

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 200 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE SOUTHEAST PART OF NORTH DAKOTA
      WESTERN SARGENT

AT 120 PM CDT...THE SARGENT COUNTY SHERIFF REPORTED A TORNADO ON
THE GROUND JUST SOUTHWEST OF CRETE...ABOUT 60 MILES WEST OF
WAHPETON NORTH DAKOTA.  STATE RADIO REPORTS THE TORNADO WAS MOVING
TO THE NORTHWEST.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE IS IN
A BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...FIND SHELTER IN A CENTRAL INTERIOR
ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...
PILLOWS...OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY AND PROTECT YOUR HEAD.
AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED
BUILDING.

ARMSTRONG

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado 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 30, 12:43 PM CDT, 41 minutes before

NDZ015-016-017-018-MNZ001-006-301900-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FARGO ND
1245 PM CDT THU MAY 30 1991

AT 1230 PM CDT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS...A FEW STRONG...CONTINUED TO
DEVELOP OVER EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL
MINNESOTA.  THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS WERE 25 MILES SOUTH OF FARGO
NEAR HICKSON...JUST NORTHEAST OF FARGO BETWEEN DILWORTH AND
GEORGETOWN...AND IN THE FORMAN AREA 60 MILES SOUTHWEST OF FARGO.

AT 1145 AM CDT PEA SIZED HAIL WAS REPORTED IN THE COLFAX AREA OF
SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA.

THE STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR HICKSON WILL MOVE THROUGH THE FARGO/
MOORHEAD AREA BETWEEN 100 PM AND 200 PM CDT...THE STORM NEAR FORMAN
WILL MOVE INTO THE MILNOR AND MC LEOD AREAS BY 200 PM CDT...AND
THE STORM JUST NORTHEAST OF FARGO WILL AFFECT THE GEORGETOWN AND
FELTON AREAS.  HAIL..DEADLY LIGHTNING...GUSTY WINDS AND VERY HEAVY RAINS
WILL ACCOMPANY THESE STORMS AS THEY MOVE NORTHEAST AT 10 TO 15 MILES AN
HOUR.

CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR THE CONTINUED INTENSIFICATION OF THESE
STRONG STORMS RIGHT IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY.  IF YOU LIVE IN THE
PROJECTED PATH OF THESE STORMS YOU SHOULD BE ALERT FOR RAPIDLY CHANGING
WEATHER mCONDITIONS THIS AFTERNOON.
EWENS

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 30, 1:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Dickey	30 min
May 30, 2:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Barnes, Cass	29 min
May 30, 2:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Grand Forks	64 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 1991 Every tornado warning in 1991 Tornadoes in 1991

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.