Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Aberdeen, SD

May 16, 1996Edmunds County, McPherson County, South Dakota

NWS Aberdeen, SD issued this tornado warning at May 16, 1996, 2:14 PM CDT for Edmunds County, McPherson County, South Dakota. It was in force for 31 min. 1 report 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 16, 1996, 2:14 PM CDT (19:14 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 1996, 2:45 PM CDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Aberdeen, SD
Area: Whole counties

Counties Edmunds County, SD, McPherson County, SD

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:16 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 16, 2:35 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Roscoe, 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, 7.2 hours before the alert went out and 100 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: 171 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -120 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 744 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 91 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 222 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KABR 161914
TORABR
SDC045-089-161945-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
214 PM CDT THU MAY 16 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ABERDEEN SD HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 245 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA

   ...EDMUNDS COUNTY
   ...MCPHERSON COUNTY
 
AT 212 PM CDT...A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY ABERDEEN DOPPLER RADAR 35
MILES NORTHEAST OF GETTYSBURG OR 1 MILE NORTH OF BOWDLE MOVING EAST
AT 34 MPH.

THE COMMUNITIES MOST THREATENED BY THIS TORNADO...
HOSMER                              AROUND 230 PM CDT
ROSCOE                              AROUND 237 PM CDT
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO...SEEK SHELTER IN 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.

OLSON/HG

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 16, 11:13 AM CDT, 3 hours 1 minute before

MNZ039-046-SDZ003>011-015>023-033>037-045-048-051-170215-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
1112 AM CDT (1012 AM MDT) THU MAY 16 1996

...SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON INTO
TONIGHT...

THE AIRMASS HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY MOIST IN THE LOWER LEVELS WITH
DEWPOINT TEMPERATURES RISING INTO THE LOWER 60S.  THE ATMOSPHERE
ALSO REMAINS UNSTABLE.

SCATTERED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO REDEVELOP TONIGHT
ACROSS THE WEST.  A FEW OF THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE PRODUCING
DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL AS THEY SPREAD EAST THIS EVENING AND
TONIGHT.

A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MEANS THAT A FEW SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS NORTHERN AND CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA
AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA.

THIS SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK WILL BE ISSUED ON A DAILY BASIS TO KEEP
YOU UPDATED ON THE POTENTIAL FOR ANY SEVERE WEATHER IN YOUR AREA AT
AROUND 11 AM AND 9 PM CDT.

EMERGEN$CY MANAGERS KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST FORECASTS AND BE PREPARED
FOR SPOTTER ACTIVATION THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT.

GUERRERO/SALMONS

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 1:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Walworth	35 min
May 16, 1:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Corson	35 min
May 16, 1:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Walworth	35 min
May 16, 4:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	McPherson	32 min
May 16, 4:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	McPherson	27 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Dakota, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes 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.