Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 138, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 25, 1997Kittson County, Marshall County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 25, 1997, 7:17 PM CDT for Kittson County, Marshall County, Minnesota. It was in force for 28 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: Jul 25, 1997, 7:17 PM CDT (00:17 UTC)
Expired: Jul 25, 1997, 7:45 PM CDT
In force: 28 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

Counties Kittson County, MN, Marshall County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 128 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:19 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 25, 7:30 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Stephen, MN	Strong thunderstorm winds produced tree damage.

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
Jul 25, 4:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 241 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: 1021 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -16 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1308 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 9 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 11 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.

000 
TTAA00 KFAR 260017 RRA
SVRFAR
MNC069-089-260045-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
717 PM CDT FRI JUL 25 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  745 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
 
   ...WESTERN KITTSON COUNTY...NORTHWESTERN MARSHALL COUNTY
 
AT 715 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ALONG THE MARSHALL AND
KITTSON COUNTY LINES OF NORTHWEST MINNESOTA...NEAR THE TOWN OF DONALDSON
OR ABOUT 40 MILES NORTH OF GRAND FORKS. THIS STORM WAS MOVING EAST
AROUND 10 MILES AN HOUR.
 
AT 715 PM A SHERIFFS DEPUTY REPORTED 50 TO 60 MILE AN HOUR WINDS AND
ZERO VISIBILITY IN TORRENTIAL RAINS.
 
REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO
PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.
EWENS

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 25, 2:56 PM CDT, 4 hours 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 25, 2:56 PM CDT, 4 hours 21 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
255 PM CDT FRI JUL 25 1997

PROBLEM FOR FIRST PERIOD IS PCPN. TSRA ALREADY IN WESTERN PART OF CWFA
MOVINMG NE WITH KMVX 88D ESTIMATING 1.4 INCHES IN SOUTHERN BENSON
COUNTY. 18Z SFC ANALYSIS HAS STATIONARY FRONT SLIGHTLY FURTHER EAST
WITH NUMEROUS LEFTOVER BOUNDARIES. NGM CONTINUES TO HAVE THE BEST
HANDLE ON SITUATION WITH UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE AND NE-SW ORIENTED
THETA-E RIDGE. LOOKS LIKE BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE WEATHER IS IN THE DVL
AREA. THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAIN IS ALSO A GOOD POSSIBILITY. FLASH
FLOOD GUIDANCE IN DVL AREA RANGES FROM 1 INCH TO UNDER 2 INCHES IN THREE
HOURS. SUGGEST STRONGLY CONSIDER FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR DVL AREA.

SUGGESTIONS:
DVL/NELSON/GRIGGS/BARNES...GOOD CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS...POSSIBLY
SEVERE WITH HEAVY RAIN. LOW NEAR 65.
GFK/FAR...A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. LOW OF 65 TO 70.
ROX/TVF/BJI...A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. LOW OF 65 TO 70.
DTL/FFM...A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. LOW IN THE UPPER 60S.

GSF

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 25, 7:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Roseau	26 min
Jul 26, 3:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Clay	28 min
Jul 26, 4:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Clay	28 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 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.