Alert archive / North Dakota / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 2, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 17, 1996Grand Forks County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this flash flood warning at May 17, 1996, 7:54 PM CDT for Grand Forks County, North Dakota. It was in force for 3 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 17, 1996, 7:54 PM CDT (00:54 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 1996, 11:00 PM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Grand Forks County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 45 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:56 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, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 276 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: 99 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -11 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 813 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -97 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -62 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 KFAR 180057
FFWFAR
NDC035-017-091-097-180400-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA ND
754 PM CDT FRI MAY 17 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1100 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...GRAND FORKS COUNTY
 
IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...CASS COUNTY...STEELE COUNTY...TRAILL COUNTY
 
AT 750 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED VERY HEAVY RAIN PRODUCING
THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE WARNING AREA. RAINFALL ESTIMATES FROM DOPPLER
RADAR INDICATE RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES WITHIN THE LAST 2
HOURS. ANOTHER 1 TO 2 INCHES COULD FALL WITHIN THE NEXT 2 HOURS AS
THUNDERSTORMS MOVE ACROSS THE AREA.
 
IN THE FARGO/MOORHEAD AREA NUMEROUS REPORTS OF BASEMENT FLOODING HAVE
OCCURRED.  PONDING OF WATER WILL BE COMMON OVER THE AREA AND SMALL
STREAMS WILL RISE RAPIDLY.
 
DO NOT DRIVEZ YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
 BELLES

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood 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, May 17, 3:22 PM CDT, 4 hours 32 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...DELAYED REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA
320 PM CDT FRI MAY 17 1996

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

1102 PM    LAWTON                    ND   .75 INCH HAIL WIND DAMAGE
05/16/96   RAMSEY                         LIFT STATION KNOCKED OUT
                                          2-4 INCH DIAMETER TREES DOWN

Special weather statement, May 17, 3:49 PM CDT, 4 hours 5 minutes before

NDZ007-008-015-016-027-MNZ004-005-006-007-008-009-001-013-015-172345-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA ND
346 PM CDT FRI MAY 17 1996

...HEAVY RAINFALL IN THUNDERSTORMS IS AGAIN POSSIBLE ACROSS NORTHEASTERN
NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA TONIGHT...

HEAVY RAINFALL LAST NIGHT OVER ALREADY SATURATED GROUND HAS CAUSED
FLOODING PROBLEMS NORTH OF A DEVILS LAKE...MANVEL...THIEF RIVER FALLS...
BAUDETTE LINE.

THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST TO DEVELOP LATE THIS AFTERNOON OR THIS
EVENING ACROSS THE AREA...SOME OF WHICH COULD PRODUCE HEAVY RAIN.
LOCALIZED RAINFALL IN THE 1 OR 2 INCH CATEGORY COULD FALL WITH THESE
THUNDERSTORMS IN A SHORT TIME PERIOD....THIS WOULD RESULT IN ADDITIONAL
FLOODING PROBLEMS.

THOSE IN NORTHEASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA WHO LIVE
NORTH OF A LINE FROM DEVILS LAKE TO MANVEL TO THIEF RIVER FALL TO
BAUDETTE SHOULD LISTEN TO WEATHER RADIO OR LOCAL MEDIA FOR LAT(ER STATEME
SAND BE PREPARED IN CASE HEAVY RAIN PRODUCING THUNDERSTORMS OCCUR.

 BELLES

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 7:54 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FGF	Cass, Steele, Traill	3 hr
May 17, 8:51 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FGF	Walsh	3 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in North Dakota, 1996 Every flash flood 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.