Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Aberdeen, SD

May 31, 1996Grant County, South Dakota

NWS Aberdeen, SD issued this tornado warning at May 31, 1996, 9:52 PM CDT for Grant County, South Dakota. It was in force for 33 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 31, 1996, 9:52 PM CDT (02:52 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1996, 10:25 PM CDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Aberdeen, SD
Area: Whole counties

County Grant County, SD

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 132 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:52 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, 10:00 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 61	Milbank, 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 00:00Z, 2.9 hours before the alert went out and 132 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 010252
TORABR
SDC051-010325-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ABERDEEN SD HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1025 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA

   ...EASTERN GRANT COUNTY
 
AT 951 PM CDT...A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY ABERDEEN DOPPLER RADAR
AND SPOTTER REPORTS 26 MILES EAST OF WATERTOWN OR 6 MILES SOUTH OF
REVILLO MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

THE COMMUNITIES MOST THREATENED BY THIS TORNADO...
REVILLO                             AROUND 956 PM CDT
ALBEE                               AROUND 1000 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

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, 7:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Grant, Roberts	47 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
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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.