Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 150, NWS Twin Cities, MN

August 6, 1996Swift County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 6, 1996, 5:17 PM CDT for Swift County, Minnesota. It was in force for 63 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
Aug 6, 1996, 5:17 PM CDT (22:17 UTC)
Expired
Aug 6, 1996, 6:20 PM CDT
In force
63 min
Issued by
NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area
Whole counties

County Swift County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 173 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:18 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, 5:35 PM CDTHail 0.75Holloway, 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

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 170 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, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 1996-08-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1662 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, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 1996-08-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 134 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1662 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-51 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
653 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
134 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
132 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
4.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMSP 062220
SVRMSP
MNC151-062320-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
517 PM CDT TUE AUG 6 1996

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  WESTERN SWIFT COUNTY - WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 620 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    HOLLOWAY
    DANVERS
    CLONTARF

* AT 517 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 30
  NORTHWEST OF MONTEVIDEO MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE LIKELY.  GO INSIDE A STURDY
BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS!

RICHARDSON

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

Special weather statement, Aug 6, 2:10 PM CDT, 3 hours 7 minutes before
MNZ004>096-070200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...MINNESOTA SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
200 PM CDT TUE AUG 6 1996

...SEVERE WEATHER EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS MINNESOTA LATE THIS
AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING...

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER INDICATES THAT THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT RISK
OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTHERN MINNESOTA LATE THIS AFTERNOON
LASTING INTO THIS EVENING.

A STRONG COLD FRONT WAS MOVING INTO WESTERN PORTIONS OF MINNESOTA
EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. THIS FRONT WILL MOVE SLOWLY EASTWARD DURING THE
EVENING...BUMPING INTO THE HOT AND VERY HUMID AIRMASS OVER THE STATE.
THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD DEVELOP RAPIDLY AFTER 4 PM FROM NORTH CENTRAL TO
SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA. THE LINE OF STORMS WILL THEN SHIFT EASTWARD AND
AFFECT EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE STATE THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS.
<
THE MAIN THREAT FROM THE STORMS WILL BE STRONG WINDS...HAIL...AND
HEAVY DOWNPOURS. A FEW STORMS DURING THE EVENING MAY HAVE THE POTENTIAL
TO PRODUCE TORNADOES ACROSS WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA.

PERSONS IN MINNESOTA ARE URGED TO STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR
ANY WATCHES OR WARNINGS ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
SEVERE STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED AS WELL.
DWE/JPR

The office that day

Everything else NWS Twin Cities, MN issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 6, 6:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMPXDouglas, Pope47 min
Aug 6, 6:53 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMPXChippewa67 min
Aug 6, 6:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMPXYellow Medicine61 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.