Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 2, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 16, 1996Polk County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 16, 1996, 11:07 PM CDT for Polk County, Minnesota. It was in force for 23 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
May 16, 1996, 11:07 PM CDT (04:07 UTC)
Expired
May 16, 1996, 11:30 PM CDT
In force
23 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 04:08 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
May 16, 11:10 PM CDTHail 1Erskine, MN
May 16, 11:15 PM CDTHail 0.75Mc 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, 4.1 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, International Fa, MN at 00:00Z on 1996-05-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 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, International Fa, MN at 00:00Z on 1996-05-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 167 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
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 170409 RRA
SVRFAR
MNC119-170430-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA ND
1107 PM CDT THU MAY 16 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1130 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
 
   ...EASTERN POLK COUNTY
 
AT 1105 PM CDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 40 MILES SOUTH OF
THIEF RIVER FALLS NEAR WINGER.  THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH
AND WILL AFFECT THE TOWNS OF MCINTOSH AND FOSSTON BETWEEN 1110 AND 1130
PM.
 
THIS STORM HAS ALREADY PRODUCED ONE INCH HAIL AT UNION LAKE.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.
 
JB
 
&

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 10:49 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFPolk31 min
May 17, 12:31 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFMarshall, Polk29 min
May 17, 6:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFWilkin27 min
May 17, 6:51 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFWilkin29 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.