Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 31, NWS Aberdeen, SD

July 20, 1996Sully County, South Dakota

NWS Aberdeen, SD issued this tornado warning at Jul 20, 1996, 7:06 PM CDT for Sully County, South Dakota. It was in force for 49 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 20, 1996, 7:06 PM CDT (00:06 UTC)
Expired: Jul 20, 1996, 7:55 PM CDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Aberdeen, SD
Area: Whole counties

County Sully County, SD

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 158 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:06 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, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 138 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: 1153 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -12 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 668 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -16 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: -0.1
Supercell composite: -0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KABR 210006
TORABR
SDC119-210055-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
706 PM CDT SAT JUL 20 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ABERDEEN SD HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 755 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA

   ...EASTERN SULLY COUNTY
 
 THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN IN RURAL AREAS NORTH AND WEST OF
HIGHMORE AND HOLABIRD.

AT 703 PM CDT...A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY ABERDEEN
DOPPLER RADAR 21 MILES SOUTHEAST OF GETTYSBURG OR 15 MILES EAST OF
ONIDA MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.
 
DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO. CARS ARE
EASILY TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS. IF YOU ARE, CAUGHT
IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG
BUILDING. IF NO STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A
DITCH OF LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.
RB/MM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 20, 7:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Hughes, Lyman	64 min
Jul 20, 8:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Lyman	59 min
Jul 21, 12:32 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Sully	48 min
Jul 21, 1:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Buffalo, Lyman	30 min
Jul 21, 2:27 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Hyde, Sully	43 min
Jul 21, 2:33 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Hughes	32 min
Jul 21, 2:42 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Lyman	48 min
Jul 21, 3:34 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Potter	31 min
Jul 21, 4:30 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	ABR	Dewey, Stanley	30 min
Jul 21, 4:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Dewey, Stanley	30 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.