Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 17, NWS Bismarck, ND

July 28, 1996Foster County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 28, 1996, 7:16 PM CDT for Foster County, North Dakota. It was in force for 59 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 28, 1996, 7:16 PM CDT (00:16 UTC)
Expired: Jul 28, 1996, 8:15 PM CDT
In force: 59 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Foster County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 117 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:16 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

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 157 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: 433 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -48 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1623 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 106 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 178 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBIS 290016
TORBIS
NDC031-290115-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
716 PM CDT SUN JUL 28 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  815 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...FOSTER COUNTY
 
AT 708 PM CDT A TORNADO WAS REPORTED 5 MILES SOUTH OF NEW ROCKFORD OR 47
MILES NORTHWEST OF JAMESTOWN. SOFTBALL SIZE HAIL BREAKING WIND SHIELDS
OF CARS WAS ALSO REPORTED WITH THIS STORM. MOVEMENT WAS SOUTHEAST
AT 20 MPH.
 
IF YOU LIVE IN BARLOW YOU SHOULD SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDERH 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.
 
 
NOAH
&

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 28, 7:06 PM CDT, 10 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  BISMARCK ND
705 PM CDT SUN JUL 28 1996

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

0515 PM    10 N BISMARCK             ND   2.00 INCH HAIL
07/28/96   BURLEIGH                       DEPUTY REPORT HAIL
                                          COVERING GROUND ON
                                          HIGHWAY 83

0525 PM    BALDWIN                   ND   1.50 INCH HAIL
07/28/96   BURLEIGH                       HAIL COVERING GROUND

0528 PM    10 NW MCCLUSKY            ND   TORNADO
07/28/96   SHERIDAN                       NUMEROUS REPORTS FROM
                                          EMERGENCY OFFICIALS AND
                                          THE PUBLIC

0535 PM    2 NW MCCLUSKY             ND   TORNADO
07/28/96   SHERIDAN                       DUPUTY REPORT

0536 PM    2 W MERCER                ND   TORNADO
07/28/96   MCCLEAN                        REPORT FROM GAME WARDEN

0542 PM    5 E BISMARCK              ND   60 MPH WIND GUST
07/28/96   BURLEIGH                       FROM SKYWARN SPOTTER

0545 PM    5 E BISMARCK              ND   1.25 INCH HAIL
07/28/96   BURLEIGH                       FROM SKYWARN SPOTTER

0545 PM    6 S MERCER                ND   TORNADO
07/28/96   MCCLEAN                        REPORTED BY GAME WARDEN

0604 PM    8 S MERCER                ND   TORNADO
07/28/96   MCCLEAN                        REPORTED BY DEPUTY

0635 PM    ROBINSON                  ND   0.75 INCH HAIL
07/28/96   KIDDER                         PUBLIC REPORT

NOAH

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 28, 7:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Kidder	56 min
Jul 28, 7:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Logan	69 min
Jul 28, 7:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McIntosh	63 min
Jul 28, 10:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	LaMoure	45 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.