Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 170, NWS Grand Forks, ND

August 3, 1997Wadena County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 3, 1997, 9:12 PM CDT for Wadena County, Minnesota. It was in force for 33 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, 9:12 PM CDT (02:12 UTC)
Expired
Aug 3, 1997, 9:45 PM CDT
In force
33 min
Issued by
NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area
Whole counties

County Wadena County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 207 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:15 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 3, 9:30 PM CDTHail 0.75Aldrich, 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

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 00:00Z, 2.2 hours before the alert went out and 220 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 1997-08-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1028 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 1997-08-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 4 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1028 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1282 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
71 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFAR 040212 RRA
SVRFAR
MNC159-040245-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
912 PM CDT SUN AUG 3 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  945 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA
 
   ...SOUTHEASTERN WADENA COUNTY
 
AT 912 PM...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES SOUTH OF
NIMROD OR 40 MILES NORTHWEST OF BRAINERD. THIS STORM IS MOVING SOUTHEAST
AT 20 MPH. TOWNS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM IS OYLEN AND CENTRAL.
 
REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO
PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WjARNING.
 
GSF

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, 8:54 PM CDT, 18 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 3, 8:54 PM CDT, 18 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
853 PM CDT SUN AUG 3 1997

KMVX 88D CONTINUES TO INDICATE -TSRA IN WEST CENTRAL MN AND THESE SHOULD
DIMINISH WITH LOSS OF DAYTIME HEATING. ADAP SSW STREAMLINES SHOWS WEAK
SFC TROF FROM LAKE OF THE WOODS COUNTY IN MN INTO SE ND. IN
ADDITION...WV IMAGERY AND 21Z RUC INDICATED WEAK S/W EMBEDDED IN NW FLOW
SET OFF EARLIER CONVECTION. EXP ECT A QUIET NIGHT AS SFC HIGH PRESSURE
BUILDS IN FROM THE WEST. WITH LOW LEVEL DRYING...DO NOT EXPECT FOG
FORMATION. WILL UPDATE ZONES TO CLEAN UP WORDING.

GSF

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 3, 10:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFWilkin43 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.