Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Bismarck, ND

June 28, 1997McHenry County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Jun 28, 1997, 11:46 PM CDT for McHenry County, North Dakota. It was in force for 44 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: Jun 28, 1997, 11:46 PM CDT (04:46 UTC)
Expired: Jun 29, 1997, 12:30 AM CDT
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties

County McHenry County, ND

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jun 29, 12:10 AM CDT	Tornado F0	Towner, ND	brief tornado touchdown reported by law enforcement

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
Jun 28, 10:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 00:00Z, 4.8 hours before the alert went out and 163 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: 547 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -47 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2546 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 5 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 25 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.

554 
WFUS1 KBIS 290451 RRA
TORBIS
NDC049-290530-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
1146 PM CDT SAT JUN 28 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1230 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...CENTRAL MCHENRY COUNTY
 
AT 1145 PM CDT A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM WAS 25 MILES NORTHEAST OF
MINOT...NEAR THE TOWN OF DEERING.
 
MOVEMENT WAS SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.
 
IF YOU ARE IN CENTRAL MCHENRY COUNTY...INCLUDING GRANVILLE...DENBIGH...
OR TOWNER...YOU NEED TO GET TO A BASEMENT OR OTHER PLACE BELOW GROUND
NOW.
 
A TORNADO WAS IN DEERING AT 1118 PM.
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
 
JP MARTIN
 
&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 28, 9:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Bottineau	43 min
Jun 28, 10:07 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Bottineau, McHenry	53 min
Jun 28, 11:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McHenry	69 min
Jun 28, 11:17 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	McHenry	28 min
Jun 29, 12:16 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Stark	59 min
Jun 29, 12:32 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McKenzie	58 min
Jun 29, 12:33 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McHenry	57 min
Jun 29, 2:06 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Burleigh, Morton	69 min
Jun 29, 4:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Williams	60 min
Jun 29, 6:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Williams	56 min
Jun 29, 6:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Williams	64 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.