Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 17, 1996Sargent County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 17, 1996, 4:36 PM CDT for Sargent County, North Dakota. It was in force for 24 min. 1 report 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, 4:36 PM CDT (21:36 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 1996, 5:00 PM CDT
In force: 24 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Sargent County, ND

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:39 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, 4:55 PM CDT	Hail 1	Cayuga, 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, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 147 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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFAR 172138
SVRFAR
NDC081-172215-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA ND
436 PM CDT FRI MAY 17 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  500 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...SARGENT COUNTY
 
AT 435 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUES TO SHOW A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM JUST
SOUTH OF STAUBVILLE...OR 60 MILES SOUTHWEST OF FARGO. LARGE HAIL HAS
BEEN REPORTED WITH THIS THUNDERSTORM. MOVEMENT OF THIS STORM WAS NORTH
TO NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR. TOWNS IN THE PATH OF THIS
STORM...COGSWELL.
 
 
 
A TORNADO WATCH "IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.  REMEMBER
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO
RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.
 
 
 
&

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, 1 hour 14 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, 47 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, 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
May 17, 6:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Richland	29 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Dakota, 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.