Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 220, NWS Twin Cities, MN

October 16, 1996Isanti County, Kanabec County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 16, 1996, 9:15 PM CDT for Isanti County, Kanabec County, Minnesota. It was in force for 45 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: Oct 16, 1996, 9:15 PM CDT (02:15 UTC)
Expired: Oct 16, 1996, 10:00 PM CDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Isanti County, MN, Kanabec County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 103 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:16 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

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 00:00Z, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 103 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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 170216
SVRMSP
MNC059-065-170300-

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

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  NORTHERN ISANTI COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA
  KANABEC COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 1000 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    OGILVIE
    DALBO
    DAY
    MORA

* AT 913 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MIDWAY
  BETWEEN PRINCETON AND MILACA...ABOUT 30 MILES EAST OF    ST CLOUD
  MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM...WITH DAMAGING WINDS. STAY INDOORS 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, 5 hours 33 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.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 16, 7:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Nicollet	44 min
Oct 16, 7:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Dakota, Scott	58 min
Oct 16, 8:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Dakota	43 min
Oct 17, 12:11 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Martin	49 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 1996 Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.