Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 151, NWS Bismarck, ND

August 31, 1997Foster County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 31, 1997, 5:43 PM CDT for Foster County, North Dakota. It was in force for 47 min. 1 report 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
Aug 31, 1997, 5:43 PM CDT (22:43 UTC)
Expired
Aug 31, 1997, 6:30 PM CDT
In force
47 min
Issued by
NWS Bismarck, ND
Area
Whole counties

County Foster County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 117 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:44 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
Aug 31, 5:50 PM CDTHail 1.25Glenfield, ND

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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Aug 31, 4:30 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 157 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, Bismarck Municip, ND at 12:00Z on 1997-08-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2 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, Bismarck Municip, ND at 12:00Z on 1997-08-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 284 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-416 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1991 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
284 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
333 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBIS 312243 RRA
SVRBIS
NDC031-312330-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
543 PM CDT SUN AUG 31 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...EASTERN FOSTER COUNTY
 
AT 540 PM CDT WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 40 MILES
NORTH OF JAMESTOWN OR 10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF GLENFIELD. THE STORM IS
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. GLENFIELD IS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES
WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  REMAIN CALM BUT BE ALERT TO
RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.
 
LEBLANG/HINTZ

The office that day

Everything else NWS Bismarck, ND issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 31, 4:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISStutsman55 min
Aug 31, 4:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISKidder62 min
Aug 31, 4:51 PM CDTTornado WarningBISStutsman39 min
Aug 31, 5:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISStutsman63 min
Aug 31, 5:55 PM CDTTornado WarningBISStutsman35 min
Aug 31, 6:28 PM CDTTornado WarningBISStutsman32 min
Aug 31, 6:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISKidder, Stutsman51 min
Aug 31, 6:58 PM CDTTornado WarningBISStutsman17 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Dakota, 1997Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.