Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 155, NWS Grand Forks, ND

August 21, 1996Otter Tail County, Wilkin County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 21, 1996, 7:31 PM CDT for Otter Tail County, Wilkin County, Minnesota. It was in force for 29 min. 2 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
Aug 21, 1996, 7:31 PM CDT (00:31 UTC)
Expired
Aug 21, 1996, 8:00 PM CDT
In force
29 min
Issued by
NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area
Whole counties

Counties Otter Tail County, MN, Wilkin County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 158 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:31 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 21, 7:40 PM CDTHail 0.75Foxhome, MN
Aug 21, 8:00 PM CDTHail 0.75Fergus Falls, 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

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 244 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 1996-08-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1707 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 1996-08-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 56 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1707 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-78 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1490 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
56 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
122 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
7.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFAR 220032
SVRFAR
MNC111-167-220100-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA ND
731 PM CDT WED AUG 21 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  800 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA
 
   ...SOUTHWESTERN OTTER TAIL COUNTY...SOUTHERN WILKIN COUNTY
 
AT 729 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO INDICATE A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM NEAR FOXHOME...OR 15 MILES EAST OF BRECKENRIDGE. THIS STORM
WAS MOVING TO THE EAST 25 MPH AND WILL PASS SOUTH OF FERGUS FALLS NEAR
DAULTON BY 750 PM.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...MOVE INTO A STRONG BUILDING.
DON'T USE TELEPHONES OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES AND STAY AWAY FROM
WINDOWS.
 
&

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, Aug 21, 2:37 PM CDT, 4 hours 54 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA
236 PM CDT WED AUG 21 1996

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

1105 AM       HOLMES                    ND         0.75 INCH HAIL
08/21/96      SE GRAND FORKS

BOHORQUEZ

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 21, 7:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFWilkin26 min
Aug 21, 7:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFGrant58 min
Aug 21, 7:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFOtter Tail, Wilkin62 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 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.