Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 13, NWS Grand Forks, ND
NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 17, 1996, 6:21 PM CDT for Richland County, North Dakota. It was in force for 29 min. 3 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 17, 1996, 6:21 PM CDT (23:21 UTC)
- Expired
- May 17, 1996, 6:50 PM CDT
- In force
- 29 min
- Issued by
- NWS Grand Forks, ND
- Area
- Whole counties
County Richland County, ND
The radar
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 143 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:21 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 17, 6:25 PM CDT | Tornado F1 | Hankinson, ND | |
| May 17, 6:30 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Fairmont, ND | |
| May 17, 6:50 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Wahpeton, 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
Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 189 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1289 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -330 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 656 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 51 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 137 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 52 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KFAR 172324 SVRFAR NDC077-182350- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA ND 621 PM CDT FRI MAY 17 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 650 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA ...RICHLAND COUNTY AT 619 PM CDT...A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IS MOVING NORTHEAST OUT OF SOUTH DAKOTA...30 MILES SOUTH OF WAHPETON...MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH. THESE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING TOWARDS FAIRMONT... HANKINSON...AND WAHPETON. THIS WARNING SUPERSEDES THE PRIOR WARNING FOR RICHLAND COUNTY. REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADO WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS. && NG
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
Local storm report, May 17, 3:22 PM CDT, 2 hours 59 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 DOWNSpecial weather statement, May 17, 3:49 PM CDT, 2 hours 32 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 16, 11:07 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Ramsey, Walsh | 38 min |
| May 17, 12:49 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Benson | 26 min |
| May 17, 1:01 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Barnes | 29 min |
| May 17, 1:29 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Barnes, Ransom | 31 min |
| May 17, 4:07 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Sargent | 28 min |
| May 17, 4:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Sargent | 24 min |
| May 17, 5:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Sargent | 36 min |
| May 17, 5:51 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Ransom, Richland | 29 min |
| May 17, 6:18 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Richland | 27 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Dakota, 1996Every 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.