Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 16, NWS Sioux Falls, SD

August 6, 1996Lake County, Miner County, South Dakota

NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued this tornado warning at Aug 6, 1996, 6:15 PM CDT for Lake County, Miner County, South Dakota. It was in force for 35 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 6, 1996, 6:15 PM CDT (23:15 UTC)
Expired
Aug 6, 1996, 6:50 PM CDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS Sioux Falls, SD
Area
Whole counties

Counties Lake County, SD, Miner County, SD

The radar

The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:14 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 6, 6:40 PM CDTThunderstorm Wind 65Canova, SD
Aug 6, 6:50 PM CDTThunderstorm Wind 53Madison, SD

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, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 127 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 062315
TORFSD
SDC079-097-062350-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
615 PM CDT TUE AUG 6 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SIOUX FALLS SD HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 650 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN EAST CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA

   ...NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY
   ...EASTERN MINER COUNTY
 
AT 615 PM CDT...A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY SIOUX FALLS
DOPPLER RADAR 32 MILES SOUTHWEST OF BROOKINGS  OR 7 MILES SOUTHWEST
OF RAMONA MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

AT PRESENT MOVEMENT THE TORNADO WILL BE AROUND...
RAMONA                   AROUND 631 PM CDT
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE 2IN A HOME OR
BUSINESS IS AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID
WINDOWS.

HOLMES

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 25 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, 5:54 PM CDTTornado WarningFSDAurora21 min
Aug 6, 6:04 PM CDTTornado WarningFSDSanborn31 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.