Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 109, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 1, 1997Cass County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 1, 1997, 3:03 AM CDT for Cass County, North Dakota. It was in force for 27 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 1, 1997, 3:03 AM CDT (08:03 UTC)
Expired: Jul 1, 1997, 3:30 AM CDT
In force: 27 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Cass County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 66 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 08:07 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 243 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: 1731 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -17 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1324 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 49 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFAR 010802 RRA
SVRFAR
NDC017-010830-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
303 AM CDT TUE JUL 1 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  330 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...SOUTHEASTERN CASS COUNTY
 
AT 300 AM CDT...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 30 MILES SOUTHWEST
OF FARGO...NEAR KINDRED...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. THE TOWNS OF
KINDRED AND HORACE ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND OVER 57 MPH...HAIL
3/4 INCH IN DIAMETER OR LARGER...TORNADOES...DEADLY
LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.  MOVE TO A SMALL INTERIOR
ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.
 
 
RA

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 1, 2:57 AM CDT, 6 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 1, 2:57 AM CDT, 6 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
250 AM CDT TUE JUL 1 1997

UNFORTUNATELY NO GRIDDED DATA AVAILABLE FOR THIS DISCUSSION. MODELS IN
FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT IN BRINGING MAJOR PCPN EVENT FOR CWFA TODAY AND
TONIGHT. STRONG UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM PROGGED TO INTENSIFY AND MOVE
THROUGH REGION. BOTH ETA AND NGM TRACK H8 LOW ACROSS ND/SD BORDER AND
WITH STRONG DYNAMICS/AND HIGH PWAT AVAILABLE CWFA IN FAVORABLE POSIT FOR
WIDESPREAD HEAVY RAINS. WITH HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS REGION OVER THE PAST
WEEK AND RESULTING LOW FFG VALUES...GENERALLY BETWEEN 1 AND 2 INCHES
FEEL FLASH FLOOD WATCH NEEDED FOR ALL BUT EXTREME NORTHERN TIER
COUNTIES WHERE GUIDENCE IS BETWEEN 2 AND 3 INCHES AND NOT QUITE AS MUCH
RAIN FALL EXPECTED ACROSS THE BORDER. SPC HAS SLIGHT RISK OF SVR OVR
SOUTH HALF OF CWA AND AFTER DISCUSSION WITH BIS AGREE THAT SVR COULD GO
FARTHER NORTH DEPENDING ON LOW TRACK. SVR WX IS GOING TO CUT THIS
SHORT. MOS TEMPS SEEM IN THE BALL PARK WITH COLDEST TEMPS (LOW TO MID
70S OVR NE ND TO 80 TO 85 IN FFM AREA. EAST TO NORTHEAST WINDS SHOULD
INCREASE AS LOW DEEPENS AND APPROACHES REGION.
FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR ALL AREAS.
FOR DVL...THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING BY AFTERNOON. HEAVY RAIN POSSIBLE.
HIGH IN THE MID 70S NORTHEAST 15 TO 30 MPH
GFK...TSRA DEVELOPING. HEAVY RAIN POSSIBLE. HIGH MID 70S. NORTHEAST 15
TO 25.
FAR...OCNL TSRA. HEAVY RAINS POSSIBLE. HIGH AROUND 80.
NORTHEAST 15 TO 25.
ROX...TVF...BDE...BJI...TSRA DEVELOPING BY NOON. HEAVY RAINS POSSIBLE
THIS AFTERNOON. HIGH MID TO UPPER 70S. E 15 TO 25.
DTL...FFM...OCNL TSRA...HEAVY RAINS POSSIBLE. HIGH 80 TO 85. E TO SE 15
TO 25 MPH.
VOELKER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 1, 2:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Richland	30 min
Jul 1, 2:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cass, Traill	30 min
Jul 1, 3:40 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FGF	Grand Forks	2 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Dakota, 1997 Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.