Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Aberdeen, SD

May 17, 1997Marshall County, South Dakota

NWS Aberdeen, SD issued this tornado warning at May 17, 1997, 7:41 PM CDT for Marshall County, South Dakota. It was in force for 19 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: May 17, 1997, 7:41 PM CDT (00:41 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 1997, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 19 min
Issued by: NWS Aberdeen, SD
Area: Whole counties

County Marshall County, SD

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 72 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:43 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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 17, 7:50 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Britton, SD
May 17, 7:53 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Britton, 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 17, 7:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 114 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: 590 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -54 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2608 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 59 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 110 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

998 
WFUS1 KABR 180042 RRA
TORABR
SDC091-180100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
741 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  MARSHALL COUNTY - IN NORTHEASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 800 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED...
  BRITTON                             AROUND 745 PM CDT

* AT 738 PM CDT...A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY ABERDEEN
  DOPPLER RADAR 36 MILES WEST OF SISSETON OR 4 MILES NORTH OF BRITTON
  MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

IF YOU ARE IN A MULTIPLE STORY BUILDING...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR
ROOM AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

TDK/DEE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 7:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Brown, Marshall	32 min
May 17, 8:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Marshall	33 min
May 17, 8:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Marshall, Roberts	47 min
May 17, 9:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Roberts	49 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Dakota, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes in 1997

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.