Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 187, NWS Grand Forks, ND

August 31, 1997Griggs County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 31, 1997, 5:47 PM CDT for Griggs County, North Dakota. 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
Aug 31, 1997, 5:47 PM CDT (22:47 UTC)
Expired
Aug 31, 1997, 6:15 PM CDT
In force
28 min
Issued by
NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area
Whole counties

County Griggs County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 69 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:49 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 31, 6:00 PM CDTHail 1.5Binford, NDWindows were broken due to the large hail.

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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Aug 31, 4:30 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 201 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, Bismarck Municip, ND at 12:00Z on 1997-08-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2 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, Bismarck Municip, ND at 12:00Z on 1997-08-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 284 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-416 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1991 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
284 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
333 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFAR 312250
SVRFAR
NDC039-312315-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
547 PM CDT SUN AUG 31 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  615 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA

   ...GRIGGS COUNTY

AT 545 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
LOCATED FROM NEAR GLENFIELD TO 6 MILES SOUTH OF SUTTON...OR FROM 45
MILES NORTHWEST TO 35 MILES NORTHWEST OF VALLEY CITY...MOVING NORTHEAST
AT 25 MPH.  THE CITIES OF BINFORD AND HANNAFORD ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS
STORM.
REMEMBER SEV*ERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO
PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.

NG

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 31, 3:02 PM CDT, 2 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 31, 3:02 PM CDT, 2 hours 45 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
300 PM CDT SUN AUG 31 1997

FIRST PERIOD DISCUSSION...TSTRMS HAVE SETTLED DOWN FOR THE TIME
BEING AND ARE SLOLY SHFTG TO THE E. ADAP HAS THE LOWEST LI`S AND
HIEST MXG RATIOS ACRS CNTRL SD WITH TRAJS FOR ERN ND AND NW MN.
H8 ANAL HAS UPSTRM H8 DWPTS OF 13C AND HIR.  GRIDDED DATA HAD
MID LVL CNVG AND SFC CNVG OVR CNTRL ND THIS AFTN AND SHFTS INTO
ERN ND THIS EVE AND NW MN OVRNT AS MOIST AIR CONTS TO MOV N/NE.
SATELLITE SHOWING CU FIELD OVR S CNTRL ND. WL GO FOR STRMS TO
FIRE IN CNTRL ND AND MOV E THIS EVE. MOS TEMPS LOOK GOOD. THINK
LOWS ARND 60 IN BDE, ROX...LWR 60S IN ROX, H@CO, TVF, FSE, BJI,
PKD, CKN, GFK, DVL...MID 60S FAR FFM, VLLY CITY.

HOPPES

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 31, 1:01 PM CDT, 4 hours 46 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND                              100 PM CDT SUN AUG 31 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....
                                                                                1254 PM    2 S AND 1 E DAZEY         ND   1 INCH HAIL
08/31/97   BARNES

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 31, 12:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFBarnes, Griggs31 min
Aug 31, 12:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFBarnes30 min
Aug 31, 6:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFBarnes36 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Dakota, 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.