Alert archive / South Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 39, NWS Aberdeen, SD

May 31, 1996Brown County, South Dakota

NWS Aberdeen, SD issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1996, 4:40 PM CDT for Brown County, South Dakota. It was in force for 45 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 31, 1996, 4:40 PM CDT (21:40 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1996, 5:25 PM CDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Aberdeen, SD
Area: Whole counties

County Brown County, SD

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 16 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:40 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 31, 5:25 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Aberdeen, SD
May 31, 5:30 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Aberdeen, SD

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 77 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 559 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 73 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 122 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 KABR 312140
SVRABR
SDC013-312225-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
440 PM CDT FRI MAY 31 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ABERDEEN SD HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 525 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA

   ...BROWN COUNTY
 
AT 436 PM CDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY ABERDEEN
DOPPLER RADAR 17 MILES SOUTHWEST OF ABERDEEN OR 16 MILES SOUTHWEST
OF RICHMOND LAKE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IS EXPECTED TO REACH...
RICHMOND LAKE                       AROUND 502 PM CDT
ABERDEEN                            AROUND 507 PM CDT
WESTPORT                            AROUND 517 PM CDT
BATH                                AROUND 518 PM CDT
TACOMA PARK                         AROUND 525 PM CDT
COLUMBIA                            AROUND 528 PM CDT
 
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING MEANS HAIL 3/4 INCH OR LARGER AND/OR
WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH HAVE BEEN INDICATED BY RADAR OR HAVE BEEN
REPORTED. SEEK SHELTER INDOORS WHEN STORMS APPROACH. IF A BUILDING
IS NOT AVAILABLE...A FULLY ENCLOSED AUTOMOBILE WILL PROVIDE
LIGHTNING PROTECTION.

BUCKLEW/GS

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, May 31, 10:47 AM CDT, 5 hours 53 minutes before

SDZ003>011-015>023-033>037-045-048-051-MNZ039-046-011200-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
1045 AM CDT FRI MAY 31 1996

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE LATE TODAY AND THIS EVENING...

A COLD FRONT IN THE WESTERN DAKOTAS WILL DRIFT EAST ACROSS CENTRAL AND
EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS
SHOULD DEVELOP ALONG THE FRONT IN CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA THIS AFTERNOON...
AND MOVE INTO EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA THIS
EVENING. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE BY LATE AFTERNOON...WITH
LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. THE THREAT OF SEVERE STORMS SHOULD END
OVERNIGHT AS THE COLD FRONT MOVES EAST INTO MINNESOTA.
6
EMERGENCY MANAGERS SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR POSSIBLE SKYWARN ACTIVATION
LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

MIDDLEBROOKE

Special weather statement, May 31, 3:13 PM CDT, 1 hour 27 minutes before

SDZ003>005-009-010-015>017-033>036-010215-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
313 PM CDT (213 PM MDT) FRI MAY 31 1996

...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CDT (8 PM MDT)...

IN NORTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA...THE WATCH INCLUDES THE COUNTIES OF
CAMPBELL...CORSON...DEWEY...EDMUNDS...FAULK...MCPHERSON...POTTER...
AND WALWORTH. IN CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA THE AFFECTED COUNTIES INCLUDE
HUGHES...HYDE...STANLEY AND SULLY.

COMMUNITIES IN THE WATCH INCLUDE TIMBER LAKE...MCINTOSH...
MOBRIDGE...PIERRE...GETTYSBURG...IPSWICH...LEOLA AND FAULKTON.

A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES AND
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. BE ON THE ALBERT
FOR THREATENING WEATHER...AND LISTEN FOR FURTHER STATEMENTS AND
POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

MIDDLEBROOKE

Local storm report, May 31, 3:52 PM CDT, 48 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SOUTH DAKOTA
352 PM CDT FRI MAY 31 1996

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....
@
0315 PM    S ISABEL                  SD   .88 INCH HAIL
05/31/96   DEWEY                          SPOTTER REPORT FROM
                                          SHERIFF DEPT.

BUCKLEW

The office that day

Everything else NWS Aberdeen, SD issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 3:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Dewey	43 min
May 31, 3:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	McPherson	47 min
May 31, 3:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Dewey	45 min
May 31, 3:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Corson	48 min
May 31, 4:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Campbell	64 min
May 31, 4:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Edmunds	50 min
May 31, 4:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	McPherson	46 min
May 31, 5:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Brown, Edmunds, McPherson	32 min
May 31, 5:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Brown	45 min
May 31, 6:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Edmunds, McPherson	32 min
May 31, 6:17 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Marshall	63 min
May 31, 6:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Brown	65 min
May 31, 6:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Brown	49 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Dakota, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1996

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.