Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 167, NWS Grand Forks, ND
NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 3, 1997, 6:04 PM CDT for Polk County, Minnesota. It was in force for 41 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
- Aug 3, 1997, 6:04 PM CDT (23:04 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 3, 1997, 6:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 41 min
- Issued by
- NWS Grand Forks, ND
- Area
- Whole counties
County Polk County, MN
The radar
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 74 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:05 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 3, 6:30 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Climax, MN |
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
International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 12:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 246 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 243 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -143 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1174 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 26 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 57 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 111 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KFAR 032304 RRA SVRFAR MNC119-032345- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 604 PM CDT SUN AUG 3 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 645 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA ...WESTERN POLK COUNTY ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER THE CITY OF GRAND FORKS... AT 602 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER THE WESTERN SECTIONS OF THE CITY OF GRAND FORKS...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR. AT 601 PM THREE-QUARTER INCH DIAMETER SIZED HAIL WAS OBSERVERD AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN GRAND FORKS. THIS STORM WILL AFFECT THE MALLORY...FISHER AND BYGLAND AREAS BY 630 PM CDT. 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. 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 Aug 3, 2:45 PM CDT, 3 hours 19 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 3, 2:45 PM CDT, 3 hours 19 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 245 PM CDT SUN AUG 03 1997 VORT MAX SHOWING UP NICELY OVR N CENTRAL MN MOVG SE. WDLY SCT -TSRA DEVELOPING AHEAD OF WK SFC BOUNDARY FROM BDE TO DLH WITH ASSIST FROM ABOVE MENTIONED FEATURE. ANOTHER WEAKER VORT SHOWING UP OVR SOUTH CENTRAL MB WITH TSRA BETWEEN YBR AND YWG ALONG H8 TROF MOVG SOUTHEAST. AIR MASS ACROSS REGION REMAINS MDTLY UNSTABLE WITH ADAP LIS AROUND -6. ALSO LOOKING OUT SIDE CU TO EAST SHOWING SOME VERTICAL EXTENT. DEVELOPING TSRA OVR MN WILL CLIP EASTERN COUNTIES AND WITH S CANADA CONVECTION MAY HAVE TO INTRODUCE ISOLD OR WDLY SCT TSRA OVER NE ND AND NW MN FOR EVENING HOURS. REMAINDER OF THE REGION SHOULD REMAIN PCPN FREE WITH LACK OF ANY SFC FORCING OR UA SUPPORT. OTWS WESTERN RIDGE PROGGED TO AMPLIFY WITH MORE NORTHERLY FLOW ACROSS CWFA. H8 CAA/WK DOWNGLIDE FROM I302 SFC PROGGED OVERNIGHT. LOWER MIXING RATIOS ALSO PROGGED TO SLOWLY SPREAD SOUTHWARD BUT NOT SIGNIFICANTLY. AGAIN WITH WK SFC FLOW AND CLR SKIES MAY HAVE TO WATCH FOR AREAS OF BR OVERNIGHT. FOR DVL...PC WITH ISOLD EVENING TSRA. LOW 55 TO 60. N 5 TO 15. GFK...PC. LOW AROUND 60. N 5 TO 10. FAR...PC. LOW LOW 60S. N 5 TO 10. ROX/BDE/TVF/BJI WDLY SCT EVENING TSRA OTWS PC. LOW 55 TO 60. N 5 TO 10. DTL/PKD/FFM. PC. LOW LOWER 60S. VOELKER
The office that day
Everything else NWS Grand Forks, ND issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2, 8:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Clay | 40 min |
| Aug 2, 9:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Becker | 47 min |
| Aug 2, 9:52 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FGF | Polk | 38 min |
| Aug 2, 10:27 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Polk | 33 min |
| Aug 3, 4:18 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Polk | 27 min |
| Aug 3, 4:44 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Polk | 31 min |
| Aug 3, 5:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Clearwater | 45 min |
| Aug 3, 6:43 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Hubbard | 47 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 1997Every 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.