Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 23, NWS Bismarck, ND

August 31, 1997Stutsman County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Aug 31, 1997, 4:51 PM CDT for Stutsman County, North Dakota. It was in force for 39 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: Aug 31, 1997, 4:51 PM CDT (21:51 UTC)
Expired: Aug 31, 1997, 5:30 PM CDT
In force: 39 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Stutsman County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 138 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:54 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 31, 5:05 PM CDT	Hail 2	Medina, ND	property damage estimated
Aug 31, 5:35 PM CDT	Hail 4.5	Windsor, ND	property damage estimated

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
Aug 31, 4:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 134 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: 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 312152 RRA
TORBIS
NDC093-312230-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
451 PM CDT SUN AUG 31 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  530 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...WESTERN STUTSMAN COUNTY
 
AT 445 PM CDT WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE DEVELOPING TORNADO 2
MILES SOUTH OF CRYSTAL SPRINGS OR 40 MILES WEST OF JAMESTOWN. THE STORM
IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. THIS STORM WILL PASS NEAR I-94. MEDINA IS
IN THE PATH OF THIS POSSIBLE TORNADO.
 
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/HINTZ

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 31, 4:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Stutsman	55 min
Aug 31, 4:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Kidder	62 min
Aug 31, 5:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Stutsman	63 min
Aug 31, 5:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Foster	47 min
Aug 31, 5:55 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Stutsman	35 min
Aug 31, 6:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Stutsman	32 min
Aug 31, 6:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Kidder, Stutsman	51 min
Aug 31, 6:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Stutsman	17 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.