Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 119, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 13, 1997Benson County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 13, 1997, 4:56 PM CDT for Benson County, North Dakota. It was in force for 34 min. 5 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: Jul 13, 1997, 4:56 PM CDT (21:56 UTC)
Expired: Jul 13, 1997, 5:30 PM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Benson County, ND

The radar

The Minot AFB radar (KMBX), 117 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:16 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
Jul 13, 5:23 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Harlow, ND
Jul 13, 5:25 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Maddock, ND
Jul 13, 5:28 PM CDT	Hail 1.25	Harlow, ND
Jul 13, 5:30 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Maddock, ND	The ground was white with hail.
Jul 13, 5:30 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Esmond, 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 nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 176 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: 545 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -100 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 872 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 60 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 108 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFAR 132156 RRA
SVRFAR
NDC005-132230-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
456 PM CDT SUN JUL 13 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  530 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...WESTERN BENSON COUNTY
 
AT 455 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR ESMOND OR 40
MILES WEST OF DEVILS LAKE. MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH. THE
THUNDERSTORM WILL REACH BAKER AROUND 525 PM CDT.
 
REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO
PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.
 
HOPPES

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 13, 3:00 PM CDT, 1 hour 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 13, 3:00 PM CDT, 1 hour 56 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
300 PM CDT SUN JUL 13 1997

FIRST PERIOD DISCUSSION...88D SHOWING HEALTHY STRMS FM NEAR
MAYVILLE TO WAHPETON ND. MVMNT NE AT 25 MPH. GRIDDED DATA
HAS JET STREAK INTO CNTRL ND FCST TO SHFT E INTO ERN ND BY
00Z. APPARENTLY CU FIELD SUPPRESSED W OF TSRA LINE INTO CNTRL
ND. ATMOS QUITE UNSTABLE WL LIKELY NEED HI VILS TO GET HAIL.
WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWING SOME DRIER MID LVL AIR TRYING TO
MOV INTO ERN ND...MAY GIVE STRMS MORE POTENTIAL FOR PRODUCING
STRNG WNDS. WATER VAPOR ALSO SHOWS VORT MAX ALNG WRN BD BRDR AND
PSBLY ANOTHER VORT MAX IN CNTRL SD. MOS TEMPS REASONABLE FOR
OVRNT LOWS...SHUD SEE MID 60S MOST PLACES.

HOPPES

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 13, 4:30 PM CDT, 26 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
430 PM CDT SUN JUL 13 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0408 PM    TWIN VALLEY               MN   1 INCH HAIL
07/13/97   NORMAN

0418 PM    TWIN VALLEY               MN   0.75 INCH HAIL
07/13/97   NORMAN

GODON

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 13, 5:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson	30 min
Jul 13, 5:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Ramsey	26 min
Jul 13, 6:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson	29 min

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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.