Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 15, NWS Bismarck, ND

July 28, 1996McLean County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 28, 1996, 5:40 PM CDT for McLean County, North Dakota. It was in force for 20 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: Jul 28, 1996, 5:40 PM CDT (22:40 UTC)
Expired: Jul 28, 1996, 6:00 PM CDT
In force: 20 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties

County McLean County, ND

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jul 28, 5:45 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Mercer, 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 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 104 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: 3 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -240 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1075 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 78 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 168 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBIS 282240
TORBIS
NDC055-282300-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
540 PM CDT SUN JUL 28 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  600 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...EAST CENTRAL MCLEAN COUNTY
 
AT 536 PM CDT A GAME WARDEN REPORTED A TORNADO OVER LAKE PETERSON...
2 MILES WEST OF MERCER...40 MILES NORTH OF BISMARCK.
 
MOVEMENT WAS SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.
 
THE TOWN OF MERCER...AND JOHNS LAKE...ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.X
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.
 
JP MARTIN
 
&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 27, 7:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McKenzie	34 min
Jul 28, 4:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Rolette	46 min
Jul 28, 5:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Burleigh, Morton	67 min
Jul 28, 5:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Pierce	59 min
Jul 28, 5:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Sheridan	44 min
Jul 28, 6:06 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Burleigh, Sheridan	39 min
Jul 28, 6:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Kidder, Wells	49 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North 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.