Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Aberdeen, SD

May 31, 1996Dewey County, South Dakota

NWS Aberdeen, SD issued this tornado warning at May 31, 1996, 2:02 PM MDT for Dewey County, South Dakota. It was in force for 43 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, 2:02 PM MDT (20:02 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1996, 2:45 PM MDT
In force: 43 min
Issued by: NWS Aberdeen, SD
Area: Whole counties

County Dewey County, SD

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 180 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:01 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, 2:15 PM MDT	Hail 0.88	Isabel, SD
May 31, 2:41 PM MDT	Tornado F0	La Plant, 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

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 180 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: 184 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -57 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 574 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 205 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KABR 312002
TORABR
SDC041-312045-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
302 PM CDT (202 PM MDT) FRI MAY 31 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ABERDEEN SD HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 245 PM MDT (345 PM CDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA

   ...DEWEY COUNTY
 
AT 158 PM MDT...A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY ABERDEEN DOPPLER RADAR 6
MILES NORTHWEST OF DUPREE MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

THE COMMUNITIES MOST THREATENED BY THIS TORNADO...
GREEN GRASS                         AROUND 235 PM MDT

THE TORNDAO SHOULD PASS 7 MILES SOUTH OF ISABEL...FIRESTEEL...AND
TIMBER LAKE.

A TORNADO HAS BEEN SPOTTED WITH THIS THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES SOUTH OF
FAITH.

 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.

&
BUCKLEW/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 31, 9:47 AM MDT, 4 hours 15 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

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 2:33 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	McPherson	47 min
May 31, 2:45 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Dewey	45 min
May 31, 2:57 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Corson	48 min
May 31, 3:01 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Campbell	64 min
May 31, 3:25 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Edmunds	50 min
May 31, 3:40 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Brown	45 min
May 31, 3:59 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	McPherson	46 min
May 31, 4:08 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Brown, Edmunds, McPherson	32 min
May 31, 4:40 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Brown	45 min
May 31, 5:08 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Edmunds, McPherson	32 min
May 31, 5:17 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Marshall	63 min
May 31, 5:30 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Brown	65 min
May 31, 5:36 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Brown	49 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.