Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1993

Tornado Warning 9, NWS Bismarck, ND

July 18, 1993Williams County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 18, 1993, 1:22 PM CDT for Williams County, North Dakota. It was in force for 38 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 18, 1993, 1:22 PM CDT (18:22 UTC)
Expired
Jul 18, 1993, 2:00 PM CDT
In force
38 min
Issued by
NWS Bismarck, ND
Area
Whole counties

County Williams County, ND

The nearest sounding before it

Glasgow Intl Airport, MT (KGGW), launched 12:00Z, 6.4 hours before the alert went out and 231 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, Glasgow Intl Airport, MT at 12:00Z on 1993-07-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Glasgow Intl Airport, MT at 12:00Z on 1993-07-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -18 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1046 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-18 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
133 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 KISN 181822 RRA
TORISN
NDC105-181900-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILLISTON ND
122 PM CDT SUN JUL 18 1993

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

   IN THE NORTHWEST PART OF NORTH DAKOTA
      WILLIAMS

AT 1215 PM CDT THE PUBLIC REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD 1 MILE NORTHEAST
OF WILLISTON. THE FUNNEL CLOUD WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO...GO TO A BASEMENT SHELTER
IF AVAILABLE...OTHERWISE TO A CENTRAL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING.

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, Jul 18, 11:44 AM CDT, 1 hour 38 minutes before
NDZ001-002-003-005-181740-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILLISTON ND
1140 AM CDT SUN JUL 18 1993

...INTENSE THUNDERSTORM OVER NORTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA...

AT 1135AM CDT AN INTENSE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY RADAR OVER
EXTREME NORTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA. THE STORM WAS 5 MILES NORTHWEST
OF FORTUNA OVER EXTREME NORTHEST DIVIDE COUNTY OR  50 MILES NORTH
NORTHWEST OF WILLISTON.  THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15
MPH. THIS STORM WILL PRODUCE VERY HEAVY RAIN AND POSSIBLE HAIL
ALONG WITH DANGEROUS LIGHTNING. IF THIS STORM MOVES INTO YOUR
AREA GO TO A SAFE SHELTER INDOORS.

OTHER RAINSHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED OVER AN AREA
FROM 10  MILES SOUTH OF TIOGA SOUTH SOUTHWEST TO 25 MILES WEST OF
DICKINSON. THE STRONGEST STORMS IN THIS AREA WERE OVER WESTERN
DUNN COUNTY ABOUT 10 MILES NORTHWEST OF MANNING OR ABOUT 40 MILES
NORTHWEST OF DICKINSON. THESE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

REMEMBER ALL THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DEADLY LIGHTNING. RAINFALL AMOUNTS
MAY BE HEAVY WITH THESE STORMS AND ROADWAYS MAY BECOME FLOODED. DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO CROSS FLOODED ROADWAYS.

KENNEDY
Special weather statement, Jul 18, 12:40 PM CDT, 42 minutes before
NDZ001-014-181930-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
1235 PM CDT SUN JUL 18 1993

...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA...

AT 1235 PM CDT WEATHER RADARS INDICATED A LINE OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS OVER WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA. THE LINE EXTENDED
FROM NORTH OF MINOT NEAR THE CANADIAN BORDER...SOUTH-SOUTHWESTWARD TO
THE DICKINSON AREA. THE LINE WAS MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH. A
FEW OF THE THUNDERSTORMS IN THIS LINE CONTAINED MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN.

RAIN WILL BE IN MINOT BEFORE 1 PM.

SOUTH OF THE DICKINSON AREA RADAR INDICTED DEVELOPING SHOWERS. THESE
SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE TO INTENSIFY. SOME WILL BECOME THUNDERSTORMS.
AT THERE CURRENT SPEED AND DEVELOPMENT...THE BISMARCK/MANDAN AREA SHOULD
HAVE RAIN BY MID AFTERNOON.

KAS
Special weather statement, Jul 18, 1:10 PM CDT, 12 minutes before
NDZ001-002-003-005-181910-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILLISTON ND
1210 AM CDT SUN JUL 18 1993

...THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING INTO THE WILLISTON AREA...

AT 1200 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF RAPIDLY DEVELOPING
THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO THE WILLISTON AREA.  THE STORMS WERE FROM
SIDNEY MONTANA NORTHEAST THROUGH WILLISTON AND CONTINUED NORTHEAST INTO
SOUTHERN SASKATCHEWAN.  THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE BRIEF HEAVY
RAIN POSSIBLE HAIL AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING. THE STORMS WERE
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

HEAVY RAINFALL FROM THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY CAUSE ROADWAYS AND
SMALL STREAMS TO BECOME FLOODED. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS WATER
COVERED ROADS.

KENNEDY

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 18, 1:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISWard26 min
Jul 18, 1:53 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISWilliams37 min
Jul 18, 3:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISMountrail66 min
Jul 18, 3:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISMcLean48 min
Jul 18, 4:28 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISMcLean62 min
Jul 18, 6:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISWells54 min
Jul 18, 6:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISSheridan24 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 1993Every tornado warning in 1993Tornadoes in 1993

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.