Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1991

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Sioux Falls, SD

June 4, 1991Gregory County, South Dakota

NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued this tornado warning at Jun 4, 1991, 3:46 PM CDT for Gregory County, South Dakota. It was in force for 29 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jun 4, 1991, 3:46 PM CDT (20:46 UTC)
Expired
Jun 4, 1991, 4:15 PM CDT
In force
29 min
Issued by
NWS Sioux Falls, SD
Area
Whole counties

County Gregory County, SD

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KHON), launched 12:00Z, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 200 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 1991-06-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 234 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 1991-06-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 138 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
234 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-83 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
729 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
138 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
104 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFSD 042047
TORFSD
SDC053-042115-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
346 PM CDT TUE JUN 4 1991
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SIOUX FALLS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  415 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA
 
   ...EASTERN GREGORY COUNTY
 
 
 
AT 340 PM CDT A TORNADO WAS REPORTED 21/2 MILES WEST OF BONESTEEL.
SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO A BUILDING AND NUMEROUS CARS THROWN AROUND WERE
REPORTED.
 
 
THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTH AT 15 MPH WITH NO TOWNS IN ITS PATH.
 
THIS WARNING INCLUDES THE ADJACENT WATERS OF THE MISSOURI RIVER.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.
RYRHOLM

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, Jun 4, 1:45 PM CDT, 2 hours 1 minute before
SDZ010-015-016-019-050000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
145 PM CDT TUE JUN 4 1991

...COLD AIR FUNNELS SIGHTED...

COLD AIR FUNNEL CLOUDS HAVE BEEN OBSERVED NORTHWEST OF WINNER THIS
AFTERNOON AROUND 1 30 PM CDT.

STUDIES OF FUNNEL CLOUDS DURING THE PAST DEVERAL YEARS INDICATE THAT
A KIND OF FUNNEL CLOUD FORMS WITH WEATHER CONDITIONS SIMILAR TO THOSE
THAT PREVAIL TODAY. THESE ARE SO CALLED COLD AIR FUNNEL CLOUDS AND ARE
NOT AS VIOLENT AS THOSE ASSOCIATED WITH SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.

STUDIES OF COLD AIR FUNNEL CLOUDS SHOW THAT THEY RARELY TOUCH THE GROUND
AND AS SUCH RARELY DO ANY DAMAGE. ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS OVER SOUTHEAST
SOUTH DAKOTA WILL CONTINUE FAVORABLE FOR THE FORMATION OF COLD AIR
FUNNEL CLOUDS FOR THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON. PEOPLE IN SOUTHEAST OR
SOUTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA SHOULD NOT BECOME UNDUELY ALARMED BUT SHOULD
REMAIN ALERT AND MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY IF A COLD AIR FUNNEL CLOUD
APPROACHES THE GROUND.

ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS WILL BE ISSUED AS NECESSARY.

BIER
Special weather statement, Jun 4, 1:45 PM CDT, 2 hours 1 minute before
SDZ010-011-012-041935

RADAR SUMMARY AND SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HURON SD
144 PM CDT TUE JUN 4 1991

AT 130 PM CDT...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN CONTINUED
TO DEVELOP OVER CENTRAL AND EAST CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA. THE THUNDERSTORMS
WERE MOSTLY WEST OF A LINE FROM MOBRIDGE...TO HURON...TO MITCHELL.

THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER SULLY...HUGHES...SOUTHERN LYMAN...
AND AURORA COUNTIES.

DUE TO PREVIOUS HEAVY RAINS THE LAST SEVERAL DAYS ADDTIONAL HEAVY RAINS
MAY CAUSE URBAN...AND LOWLAND FLOODING AND RAPID RISES IN STREAMS.

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTH AT 20 MILES AN HOUR.

FREDERICK
Special weather statement, Jun 4, 2:47 PM CDT, 59 minutes before
SDZ010-011-012-042035

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HURON SD
244 PM CDT TUE JUN 4 1991

AT 230 PM CDT...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN CONTINUED
IN CENTRAL AND EAST CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA. THUNDERSTORMS WERE WEST OF
A LINE FROM 20 MILES NORTHWEST OF YANKTON TO 20 SOUTHWEST OF ABERDEEN
TO 30 MILES NORTH OF MOBRIDGE.
THE STRONGEST WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WERE 20 MILES SOUTHWEST OF HURON
NEAR WESSINGTON SPRINGS AND 30 MILES NORTHWEST OF HURON NEAR MILLER...
OLSO JUST NORTH OF PIERRE SOUTH DAKOTA.

DUE TO PREVIOUS HEAVY RAINS THE LAST SEVERAL DAYS ADDITIONAL HEAVY
RAINS MAY CAUSE URBAN...AND LOWLAND FLOODING AND RAPID RISES ON
STREAMS.
SHOWERS AjND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTH AT 20 MILES AN HOUR.

PRESTON
Special weather statement, Jun 4, 3:42 PM CDT, 4 minutes before
SDZ010-011-012-042135

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HURON SD
345 PM CDT TUE JUN 4 1991

...FLASH FLOOD WARNING IN EFFECT FOR WESTERN AND NORTHERN LYMAN AND
WESTERN HUGHES AND WESTERN SULLY AND EASTERN STANLEY UNTIL 515 PM CDT...
AT 325 PM CDT...NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN CONTINUED
IN CENTRAL AND EAST CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA. THUNDERSTORMS WERE WEST OF
A LINE FROM YANKTON TO HURON TO ABERDEEN TO MOBRIDGE.

THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WAS 20 MILES SOUTHWEST
OF HURON NEAR WESSINGTON SPRINGS. ALSO THERE WAS A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS
WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN FROM NORTHERN SULLY COUNTY SOUTH TO NEAR PIERRE AND
SOUTHEAST TO NEAR IONA.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTH AT 20 MILES AN HOUR.

MILLER

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Dakota, 1991Every tornado warning in 1991Tornadoes 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.