Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 19, NWS Bismarck, ND

August 5, 1997Burleigh County, McLean County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Aug 5, 1997, 6:12 PM CDT for Burleigh County, McLean County, North Dakota. It was in force for 33 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 5, 1997, 6:12 PM CDT (23:12 UTC)
Expired: Aug 5, 1997, 6:45 PM CDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties

Counties Burleigh County, ND, McLean County, ND

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 59 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:16 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Aug 5, 6:15 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Mercer, ND	brief touchdown by a rope tornado in open county.

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 nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 60 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1463 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 73 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

400 
WFUS1 KBIS 052314 RRA
TORBIS
NDC015-055-059-052345-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
612 PM CDT TUE AUG 5 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  645 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...WESTERN BURLEIGH COUNTY...SOUTHEASTERN MCLEAN COUNTY
   ...EASTERN MORTON COUNTY
 
AT 610 PM CDT... A TORNADO WAS REPORTED 10 MILES NORTH OF BISMARCK OR IN
THE VICINITY OF BALDWIN. CITIES INCLUDED ARE BISMARCK AND MANDAN.
MOVEMENT WAS TO THE SOUTH AT 25 MPH.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.
 
 
 
&
LEBLANG/JENSEN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 4, 7:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Williams	62 min
Aug 5, 4:49 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Sheridan	41 min
Aug 5, 6:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Morton	33 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North 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.