Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 1, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 16, 1996Polk County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 16, 1996, 10:49 PM CDT for Polk County, Minnesota. It was in force for 31 min. 4 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, 10:49 PM CDT (03:49 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 1996, 11:20 PM CDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Polk County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 74 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:50 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
May 16, 11:02 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Fertile, MN
May 16, 11:04 PM CDT	Hail 1	Union Lake, MN
May 16, 11:10 PM CDT	Hail 1	Erskine, MN
May 16, 11:15 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Mc Intosh, MN

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

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 00:00Z, 3.8 hours before the alert went out and 246 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 708 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 167 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 182 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 170350
SVRFAR
MNC119-170420-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA ND
1049 PM CDT THU MAY 16 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1120 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
 
   ...CENTRAL POLK COUNTY
 
AT 1048 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR
FERTILE...OR 45 MILES SOUTHEAST OF GRAND FORKS.
 
THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH AND WILL REACH THE TOWN OF
MENTOR AT 1105 PM.
 
REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADO
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.2  REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO
RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.
 
JB

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 11:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Polk	23 min
May 17, 12:31 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Marshall, Polk	29 min
May 17, 6:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Wilkin	27 min
May 17, 6:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Wilkin	29 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 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.