Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 31, NWS Aberdeen, SD

July 25, 1997Brown County, South Dakota

NWS Aberdeen, SD issued this tornado warning at Jul 25, 1997, 6:56 PM CDT for Brown County, South Dakota. It was in force for 34 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: Jul 25, 1997, 6:56 PM CDT (23:56 UTC)
Expired: Jul 25, 1997, 7:30 PM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Aberdeen, SD
Area: Whole counties

County Brown County, SD

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 16 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:58 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 25, 7:12 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 69	Aberdeen, SD	Thunderstorm winds and small hail damaged about 3 to 4 acres of sunflowers.
Jul 25, 7:33 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Warner, 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
Jul 25, 6:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 11.9 hours before the alert went out and 77 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: 764 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -172 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 926 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 2 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KABR 252356 RRA
TORABR
SDC013-260030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
656 PM CDT FRI JUL 25 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  WESTERN BROWN COUNTY - NORTHEASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  ABERDEEN                            AROUND 715 PM CDT
  WARNER                              AROUND 720 PM CDT

* AT 654 PM CDT...ABERDEEN DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 12
  MILES WEST OF ABERDEEN MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

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

CB/DEE

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 25, 10:40 AM CDT, 8 hours 16 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 25, 10:40 AM CDT, 8 hours 16 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR CENTRAL/NORTH CENTRAL/NORTHEAST SD
AND FOR TRAVERSE/BIG STONE COUNTIES OF MN
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
1040 AM CDT FRI JUL 25 1997

HAVE UPDATED ZONE PACKAGE TO REMOVE MORNING WEATHER. ALSO UPPED HIGHS
IN CENTRAL ZONES AROUND PIR. WEAK PRESSURE GRADIENTS AT SFC UP TO 850 MB
...SO WILL FCST VARIABLE WINDS OVER ENTIRE CWA.

.ABR...NONE

MIDDLEBROOKE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 24, 8:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Jones	64 min
Jul 24, 9:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Clark, Spink	63 min
Jul 24, 9:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Clark	30 min
Jul 24, 9:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Codington, Hamlin	94 min
Jul 24, 11:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Lyman	34 min
Jul 25, 12:07 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Hamlin	48 min
Jul 25, 12:14 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	ABR	Clark, Codington, Deuel, Hamlin	3 hr
Jul 25, 4:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Campbell, McPherson	58 min
Jul 25, 4:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	McPherson	44 min
Jul 25, 5:37 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Edmunds, McPherson	58 min
Jul 25, 6:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Corson	63 min
Jul 25, 6:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Edmunds	64 min
Jul 25, 6:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Edmunds	50 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.