Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 12, NWS Sioux Falls, SD

August 4, 1996Aurora County, South Dakota

NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued this tornado warning at Aug 4, 1996, 5:44 PM CDT for Aurora County, South Dakota. It was in force for 36 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 4, 1996, 5:44 PM CDT (22:44 UTC)
Expired
Aug 4, 1996, 6:20 PM CDT
In force
36 min
Issued by
NWS Sioux Falls, SD
Area
Whole counties

County Aurora County, SD

The radar

The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 148 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:45 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 132 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 12:00Z on 1996-08-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1878 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 12:00Z on 1996-08-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 64 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
1878 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-160 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1136 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
64 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
90 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFSD 042245
TORFSD
SDC003-042320-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
544 PM CDT SUN AUG 4 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SIOUX FALLS SD HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 620 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA

   ...WESTERN AURORA COUNTY
 
AT 543 PM CDT...A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY SIOUX FALLS
DOPPLER RADAR 28 MILES EAST OF CHAMBERLAIN  OR 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
WHITE LAKE  MOVING NORTHEAST AT 10 MPH. THE TORNADO WILL AFFECT
WHITE LAKE AROUND 6PM.
 
DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO OUTRUN A TORNADO.  CARS ARE EASILY TOSSED
AROUND BY TORNADIC WINDS.  IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF A
TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG REINFORCED BUILDING.  IF
NO STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT.

CHAPMAN

The office that day

Everything else NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 4, 6:50 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDTurner30 min
Aug 4, 7:27 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDLincoln, Minnehaha33 min
Aug 4, 5:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDAurora, Brule18 min
Aug 4, 5:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDAurora, Brule14 min
Aug 4, 6:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDAurora33 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Dakota, 1996Every tornado warning in 1996Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.