Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 217, NWS Twin Cities, MN

October 16, 1996Dakota County, Scott County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 16, 1996, 7:17 PM CDT for Dakota County, Scott County, Minnesota. It was in force for 58 min. 3 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
Oct 16, 1996, 7:17 PM CDT (00:17 UTC)
Expired
Oct 16, 1996, 8:15 PM CDT
In force
58 min
Issued by
NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area
Whole counties

Counties Dakota County, MN, Scott County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 30 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:20 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
Oct 16, 7:55 PM CDTHail 0.75St Patrick, MN
Oct 16, 8:00 PM CDTHail 1.25Coates, MN
Oct 16, 8:25 PM CDTHail 1Coates, 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 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 32 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 00:00Z on 1996-10-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 809 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 00:00Z on 1996-10-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 64 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
809 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-25 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1117 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
64 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
200 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.7
Supercell composite
4.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMSP 170018
SVRMSP
MNC037-139-WIC093-109-170115-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
717 PM CDT WED OCT 16 1996

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  DAKOTA COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA
  SCOTT COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA
  SOUTHERN WASHINGTON COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA
  NORTHERN PIERCE COUNTY - WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN
  ST. CROIX COUNTY - WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN

* UNTIL 815 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    RIVER FALLS
    HASTINGS
    NEW PRAGUE
    FARMINGTON

* AT 715 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM FROM
  NEW PRAGUE MN TO RIVER FALLS WI MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.
  ONE INCH HA(IL WAS REPORTED WITH THIS LINE OF STORMS 4 MILES NORTH
  OF FARMINGTON.

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

HAMEN
 
&

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, Oct 16, 3:42 PM CDT, 3 hours 35 minutes before
MNZ004>096-170300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
345 PM CDT WED OCT 16 1996

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CHANGES IN STORE FOR MINNESOTA THROUGH
FRIDAY...

A CHANGE FROM THE DRY AND RELATIVELY MILD WEATHER MINNESOTA HAS
ENJOYED THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS TO MORE TYPICAL AUTUMN WEATHER IS
ANTICIPATED TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY. A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM CURRENTLY
ON THE KANSAS/NEBRASKA BORDER IS EXPECTED TO RAPIDLY STRENGTHEN AS IT
TRACKS TO THE NORTHEAST TONIGHT AND THURSDAY.  INCREASING SOUTHERLY
WINDS AHEAD OF THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL CARRY DEEP MOISTURE
NORTHWARD INTO THE AREA TONIGHT.

THE END RESULT WILL BE AN EXPANDING AREA OF RAIN OVER MUCH OF
CENTRAL AND NORTHERN MINNESOTA THIS EVENING WITH A FEW EMBEDDED
THUNDERSTORMS SOUTH.  BY MORNING...SOME LOCATIONS MAY HAVE RECEIVED
BETWEEN ONE HALF AND ONE INCH OF RAINFALL.
<
THIS LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO TRACK ACROSS MINNESOTA
DURING THE DAY THURSDAY.  MORE RAIN IS LIKELY ACROSS THE STATE WITH
A THREAT FOR A RAIN AND SNOW MIXTURE DEVELOPING IN THE NORTHWEST
THURSDAY AFTRNOON.

VERY STRONG NORTHWEST WINDS WILL DEVELOP OVER WESTERN MINNESOTA ON
THURSDAY AND OVERSPREAD THE STATE THURSDAY NIGHT AS THE LOW PRESSURE
SYSTEM MOVES NORTHEAST TOWARD THE GREAT LAKES.  WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS
OF 30 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY
SOUTHWARD THROUGH FERGUS FALLS AND ALEXANDRIA TO MORRIS AND MANKATO.
THESE POWERFUL WINDS WILL PULL COLD CANADIAN AIR INTO WESTERN
MINNESOTA EVENTUALLY CHANGING THE RAIN TO A RAIN AND SNOW MIXTURE
OVER ALL OF THE STATE.

THE MAIN THREAT FOR ACCUMULATING SNOW IS IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
THURSDAY AFTERNOON INTO THURSDAY NIGHT.  SNOWFALLS OF ONE TO THREE
INCHES...MOSTLY GRASSY AREAS...ARE EXPECTED IN THE THIEF RIVER FALLS...
INTERNATIONAL FALLS...BEMIDJI...FOSSTON AND ROSEAU AREAS.  THE
BURST OF SNOW MAY SWEEP INTO PARTS OF THE ARROWHEAD LATER THURSDAY
NIGHT WITH ADDITIONAL ACCU.MULATIONS POSSIBLE IN ELY...CRANE LAKE
AND HIBBING.
<
PERSONS ACROSS MINNESOTA SHOULD CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST
FORECAST CONCERNING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS STORM.
 MBK/DWE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 16, 7:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMPXNicollet44 min
Oct 16, 8:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMPXDakota43 min
Oct 16, 9:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMPXIsanti, Kanabec45 min
Oct 17, 12:11 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMPXMartin49 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.