Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 17, NWS Aberdeen, SD

May 31, 1996Grant County, Roberts County, South Dakota

NWS Aberdeen, SD issued this tornado warning at May 31, 1996, 7:38 PM CDT for Grant County, Roberts County, South Dakota. It was in force for 47 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 31, 1996, 7:38 PM CDT (00:38 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1996, 8:25 PM CDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Aberdeen, SD
Area: Whole counties

Counties Grant County, SD, Roberts County, SD

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 122 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:42 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 133 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: 2345 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 770 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 257 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 340 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 3.5
Supercell composite: 16.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KABR 010037
TORABR
SDC051-109-010125-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
738 PM CDT FRI MAY 31 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ABERDEEN SD HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 825 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA

   ...SOUTHERN ROBERTS COUNTY
   ...GRANT COUNTY
 
AT 735 PM CDT...A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY ABERDEEN
DOPPLER RADAR 24 MILES NORTH OF WATERTOWN OR 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
SUMMIT MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

THE COMMUNITIES MOST THREATENED BY THIS TORNADO...
SUMMIT                              AROUND 745 PM CDT
WILMOT                              AROUND 808 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.

BUCKLEW/HG/GS

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, 3:13 PM CDT, 4 hours 25 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, 3 hours 46 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, 7:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Marshall	32 min
May 31, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Codington, Grant	55 min
May 31, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Roberts	55 min
May 31, 8:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Clark	32 min
May 31, 8:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Clark, Codington, Deuel, Hamlin	61 min
May 31, 8:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Roberts	64 min
May 31, 9:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Deuel	46 min
May 31, 9:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Deuel	34 min
May 31, 9:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Grant	29 min
May 31, 9:52 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Grant	33 min
Jun 1, 4:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	McPherson	63 min
Jun 1, 4:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.