Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Bismarck, ND

May 16, 1996Burleigh County, Morton County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 16, 1996, 11:42 PM CDT for Burleigh County, Morton County, North Dakota. It was in force for 48 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 16, 1996, 11:42 PM CDT (04:42 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 1996, 12:30 AM CDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties

Counties Burleigh County, ND, Morton County, ND

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 12 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:45 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 16, 11:45 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 70	Mandan, ND
May 17, 12:12 AM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 69	Bismarck, ND

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 00:00Z, 4.7 hours before the alert went out and 16 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: 317 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -97 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 647 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 67 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 296 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 422 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 7.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBIS 170444
SVRBIS
NDC015-059-170530-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
1142 PM CDT THU MAY 16 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1230 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...SOUTHERN BURLEIGH COUNTY...NORTHEASTERN MORTON COUNTY
 
A SEVERE THUNDERSTOM 10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF BISMARCK WAS MOVING NORTHEAST
AT 50 MPH AND WILL MOVE THROUGH THE BISMARCK/MANDAN AREA AROUND
MIDNIGHT.
 
EXPECT TORRENTIAL RAINFALL AND DAMAGING WINDS TO 60 MPH WITH THIS STORM.
WINDS OF 60 MPH HAVE BEEN REPORTED WITH THIS STORM IN GRANT AND SIOUX
COUNTIES.
 
YOU SHOULD TAKE SHELTER IN A REINFORCED BUILDING UNTIL THE STORM PASSES.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO
RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.
 
&

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm 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 16, 6:07 PM CDT, 5 hours 35 minutes before

NDZ047-048-050-051-170000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  BISMARCK ND
605 PM CDT THU MAY 16 1996

...TORNADO WATCH FOR PARTS OF SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA HAS BEEN
CANCELED...

THE TORNADO WATCH FOR LOGAN...MCINTOSH...LA MOURE...AND DICKEY COUNTIES
IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT. THE STRONG THUNDERSTORMS HAVE MOVED EAST AND THE
THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER IS OVER FOR THE EVENING.

...HOWEVER..THE ATMOSPHERE IS VERY UNSTABLE AND THERE IS A THREAT OF
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AGAIN LATER TONIGHT.

THE TORNADO WATCH CONTINUES UNTIL 9 PM FOR SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA
INCLUDING CASS...RANSOM...SARGENT...AND RICHLAND.

VAN ESS

Special weather statement, May 16, 7:01 PM CDT, 4 hours 41 minutes before

NDZ039-047>053-170100-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  BISMARCK ND
700 PM CDT THU MAY 16 1996

...TORNADO WATCH NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA...

THE TORNADO WATCH FOR SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA HAS BEEN CANCELED. THE
THUNDERSTORMS HAVE MOVED OUT OF THE AREA AND NO LONGER ARE A THREAT.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY DEVELOP AGAIN LATER TONIGHT...AND A FEW MIGHT
BE SEVERE.

VAN ESS

The office that day

Everything else NWS Bismarck, ND issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 9:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Adams, Bowman	45 min
May 16, 10:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Adams	49 min
May 16, 10:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Grant, Sioux	69 min
May 16, 11:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Morton	69 min
May 16, 11:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Emmons, Sioux	56 min
May 17, 12:06 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Emmons, Kidder, Logan, McIntosh	69 min
May 17, 12:37 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Dickey, LaMoure	68 min
May 17, 12:37 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Stutsman	68 min
May 17, 12:40 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Burleigh	50 min
May 17, 1:25 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	LaMoure, Stutsman	20 min
May 17, 1:25 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Dickey	20 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Dakota, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.