Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 14, NWS Sioux Falls, SD

August 6, 1996Aurora County, South Dakota

NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued this tornado warning at Aug 6, 1996, 5:54 PM CDT for Aurora County, South Dakota. It was in force for 21 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 6, 1996, 5:54 PM CDT (22:54 UTC)
Expired
Aug 6, 1996, 6:15 PM CDT
In force
21 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 22:54 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, 10.9 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 1996-08-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1082 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 1996-08-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 318 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
1082 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-456 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1178 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
318 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
222 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 KFSD 062258 COR
TORFSD
SDC003-062251-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING...CORRECTED EXPIRATION TIME
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
554 PM CDT TUE AUG 6 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SIOUX FALLS SD HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 615 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA

   ...EASTERN AURORA COUNTY

AT 554 PM CDT...A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY SIOUX FALLS
DOPPLER RADAR 19 MILES WEST OF MITCHELL  OR 4 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
PLANKINTON MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. THE TORNADO IS CURRENTLY
EXPECTED TO REMAIN OVER RURAL AREAS.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IN A HOME OR
BUSINESS IS AN INTERIOR RO,OM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID
WINDOWS.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 6, 1:50 PM CDT, 4 hours 4 minutes before
SDZ040-055-056-061-062-065>071-IAZ001>003-012>014-020>022-031-032-
MNZ097-098-NEZ013-014-062300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
150 PM CDT TUE AUG 6 1996

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED OVER PARTS OF SOUTHEAST SOUTH
DAKOTA...SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA...NORTHWEST IOWA...AND NORTHEAST
NEBRASKA BY THIS EVENING...

A VERY MOIST AND EXTREMELY UNSTABLE AIR MASS IS BLANKETING MUCH OF THE
AREA THIS AFTERNOON.  SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO ERUPT
ALONG A COLD FRONT MOVING VERY SLOWLY EAST THROUGH EASTERN SOUTH
DAKOTA.  AT THIS TIME...DEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED TO INITIATE ALONG
THE FRONT LATE THIS AFTERNOON FROM BROOKINGS TO YANKTON.  CONDITIONS
ARE FAVORABLE FOR MANY OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS TO BECOME SEVERE AND
PRODUCE LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WIND..AND TORRENTIAL RAIN.
STORMS WILL PLOW INTO ADJACENT AREAS OF NORTHEAST NEBRASKA...NORTHWEST
IOWA...AND SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA BY EARLY EVENING.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR ANOTHER RELIABLE WEATHER NEWS
SOURCE FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON THIS DEVELOPING SEVERE WEATHER
SITUATION.

CHAPMAN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 6, 5:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDCharles Mix47 min
Aug 6, 5:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDLake, Miner29 min
Aug 6, 5:46 PM CDTTornado WarningFSDDavison34 min
Aug 6, 5:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDBon Homme46 min
Aug 6, 6:04 PM CDTTornado WarningFSDSanborn31 min
Aug 6, 6:15 PM CDTTornado WarningFSDLake, Miner35 min
Aug 6, 6:20 PM CDTTornado WarningFSDDavison35 min
Aug 6, 6:24 PM CDTTornado WarningFSDBon Homme31 min
Aug 6, 6:27 PM CDTTornado WarningFSDLake, McCook33 min
Aug 6, 6:36 PM CDTTornado WarningFSDMiner, Sanborn34 min
Aug 6, 6:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDBrookings, Kingsbury34 min
Aug 6, 6:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDHutchinson, Turner48 min
Aug 6, 6:50 PM CDTTornado WarningFSDLake35 min
Aug 6, 6:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDSanborn34 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.