Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 23, NWS Aberdeen, SD

July 16, 1997Day County, South Dakota

NWS Aberdeen, SD issued this tornado warning at Jul 16, 1997, 9:47 PM CDT for Day County, South Dakota. It was in force for 48 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: Jul 16, 1997, 9:47 PM CDT (02:47 UTC)
Expired: Jul 16, 1997, 10:35 PM CDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Aberdeen, SD
Area: Whole counties

County Day County, SD

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 64 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:49 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
Jul 16, 10:00 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Bristol, SD
Jul 16, 10:35 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Bristol, SD
Jul 16, 10:35 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Bristol, SD	Thunderstorm winds blew some large limbs down.

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
Jul 16, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 81 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: 1702 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -198 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2085 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 104 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 226 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KABR 170247 RRA
TORABR
SDC037-170335-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
947 PM CDT WED JUL 16 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  DAY COUNTY - NORTHEASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 1035 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  BUTLER                              AROUND 1000 PM CDT

* AT 945 PM CDT...ABERDEEN DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 34
  MILES EAST OF ABERDEEN OR 6 MILES NORTHWEST OF BUTLER MOVING SOUTH
  AT 10 MPH.

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!

HG

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.

NWS Aberdeen, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jul 16, 9:36 PM CDT, 11 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 16, 9:36 PM CDT, 11 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR CENTRAL/NORTH CENTRAL/NORTHEAST SD
AND FOR TRAVERSE/BIG STONE COUNTIES OF MN
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
935 PM CDT WED JUL 16 1997

SCT TSRAS...SOME SEVERE...WILL CONTINUE ACROSS PARTS OF C...NC AND NE SD
THROUGH THE REST OF THE EVENING AND EARLY MORNING HOURS IN VERY
UNSTABLE AIRMASS. WILL UPDATE ZONES AS TSRAS MOVE EAST.

.ABR...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR PARTS OF C...NC AND NE SD
       UNTIL 100 AM CDT.

DM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 16, 7:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Sully	48 min
Jul 16, 7:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Hughes	46 min
Jul 16, 7:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Stanley	64 min
Jul 16, 7:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Sully	47 min
Jul 16, 8:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Hughes	35 min
Jul 16, 8:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Potter	47 min
Jul 16, 8:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Hyde	49 min
Jul 16, 8:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Faulk	63 min
Jul 16, 8:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Day	46 min
Jul 16, 9:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Faulk	50 min
Jul 16, 10:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Clark, Spink	49 min
Jul 16, 10:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Day	33 min
Jul 16, 11:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Clark, Day, Spink	64 min
Jul 16, 11:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Codington, Grant	63 min
Jul 16, 11:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Codington, Grant	55 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.