Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1994

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Bismarck, ND

May 22, 1994McHenry County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at May 22, 1994, 4:20 PM CDT for McHenry County, North Dakota. It was in force for 25 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 22, 1994, 4:20 PM CDT (21:20 UTC)
Expired: May 22, 1994, 4:45 PM CDT
In force: 25 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties

County McHenry County, ND

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 163 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: 18 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -354 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1367 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 132 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 128 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 KBIS 222121
TORBIS
NDC049-222145-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
420 PM CDT SUN MAY 22 1994
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  445 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...NORTHEASTERN MCHENRY COUNTY
 
AT 410 PM CDT A TORNADO WAS LOCATED 8 MILES SOUTHWEST OF TOWNER. THE
TORNADO WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. IF YOU ARE IN TOWNER...TAKE
SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.
 
 
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
S@UCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.
 
 
VAN ESS

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 22, 3:43 PM CDT, 37 minutes before

NDZ001>053-222300-

SPECIALL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
343 PM CDT SUN MAY 22 1994

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR EASTERN
 MCLEAN COUNTY...
...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL
   AND WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA UNTIL 10 PM CDT THIS EVENING...

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR THE
FOLLOWING COUNTIES OF NORTH DAKOTA...DUNN AND MOUNTRAIL

AT 340 PM CDT RADAR DETECTED SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS IN CENTRAL AND
EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA FROM 30 MILES EAST OF MINOT TO 40 MILES SOUTH
OF DICKINSON. THE STRONGEST STORM WAS LOCATED IN NORTHEAST MCLEAN
COUNTY...35 MILES SOUTH OF MINOT.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 TO 25 MILES AN HOUR.
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RR

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 22, 2:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McLean	60 min
May 22, 3:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McHenry	58 min
May 22, 4:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Oliver	60 min
May 22, 4:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McLean, Sheridan	55 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 1994 Every tornado warning in 1994 Tornadoes in 1994

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.