Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 28, NWS Aberdeen, SD

July 17, 1996Codington County, South Dakota

NWS Aberdeen, SD issued this tornado warning at Jul 17, 1996, 10:50 PM CDT for Codington County, South Dakota. It was in force for 45 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: Jul 17, 1996, 10:50 PM CDT (03:50 UTC)
Expired: Jul 17, 1996, 11:35 PM CDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Aberdeen, SD
Area: Whole counties

County Codington County, SD

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:51 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, 3.8 hours before the alert went out and 96 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: 4029 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1079 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 109 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 168 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 4.3
Supercell composite: 17.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KABR 180349
TORABR
SDC029-180435-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
1050 PM CDT WED JUL 17 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ABERDEEN SD HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1135 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA

   ...CODINGTON COUNTY
 
THE COMMUNITIES MOST THREATENED BY THIS TORNADO...
WATERTOWN                           AROUND 1104 PM CDT
RAUVILLE                            AROUND 1105 PM CDT
WAVERLY                             AROUND 1121 PM CDT
SOUTH SHORE                         AROUND 1126 PM CDT

AT 1047 PM CDT...A TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY ABERDEEN DOPPLER RADAR
AND SPOTTER REPORTS 6 MILES WEST OF RAUVILLE  MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO...SEEK SHELTER IN AN
INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST LEVEL OF YOUR HOUSE OR BUSINESS.
COVER YOURSELF WITH A MATTRESS...PILLOWS OR CUSHIONS. DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO OPEN WINDOWS. IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...MOVE
INTO A DITCH OR LOW AREA AND COVER YOUR HEAD.

HG/MM

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

Local storm report, Jul 17, 4:52 PM CDT, 5 hours 58 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
455 PM CDT WED JUL 17 1996

TIME(CDT)    ...CITY LOCATION....   STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS....
             ...COUNTY LOCATION...

0442 PM      2 N ISABEL             SD      1.75 HAIL
07/17/96     DEWEY

TDK

Local storm report, Jul 17, 5:05 PM CDT, 5 hours 45 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
507 PM CDT WED JUL 17 1996

TIME(CDT)    ...CITY LOCATION....   STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS....
             ...COUNTY LOCATION...

0410 PM      8 NE GLAD VALLEY        SD      .75 HAIL
07/17/96     CORSON

TDK

Local storm report, Jul 17, 7:53 PM CDT, 2 hours 57 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
753 PM CDT WED JUL 17 1996

TIME(CDT)    ...CITY LOCATION....   STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS....
             ...COUNTY LOCATION...

0706 PM      4 NE GROTON             SD     1.00 HAIL
07/17/96     BROWN

0736 PM      6 E 1 N GROTON          SD     TORNADO
07/17/96     BROWN                          BRIEF TOUCHDOWN

0740 PM      15 E GROTON             SD     TORNADO
07/17/96     DAY                            BRIEF TOUCHDOWN

MGM

Local storm report, Jul 17, 7:57 PM CDT, 2 hours 53 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
755 PM CDT WED JUL 17 1996

TIME(CDT)    ...CITY LOCATION....   STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS....
             ...COUNTY LOCATION...

0753 PM      PIERPONT                SD     TORNADO
07/17/96     DAY

TDK

Local storm report, Jul 17, 8:01 PM CDT, 2 hours 49 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
801 PM CDT WED JUL 17 1996

TIME(CDT)    ...CITY LOCATION....   STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS....
             ...COUNTY LOCATION...

0800 PM      2 E PIERPONT            SD     TORNADO
07/17/96     DAY                            LARGE TORNADO

MGM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 17, 7:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Day	46 min
Jul 17, 7:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Day	46 min
Jul 17, 8:25 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	ABR	Marshall	35 min
Jul 17, 8:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Marshall	35 min
Jul 17, 8:40 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	ABR	Day, Roberts	50 min
Jul 17, 8:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Day, Roberts	50 min
Jul 17, 9:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Day	47 min
Jul 17, 9:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Clark	49 min
Jul 17, 10:14 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Clark, Codington	31 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.