Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 197, NWS Grand Forks, ND

September 7, 1997Eddy County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 7, 1997, 6:22 PM CDT for Eddy County, North Dakota. It was in force for 23 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: Sep 7, 1997, 6:22 PM CDT (23:22 UTC)
Expired: Sep 7, 1997, 6:45 PM CDT
In force: 23 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Eddy County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 120 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:25 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
Sep 7, 6:27 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Hamar, 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, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 172 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: 739 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -188 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 617 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 70 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 55 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.

910 
WUUS1 KFAR 072323 RRA
SVRFAR
NDC027-072345-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
622 PM CDT SUN SEP 7 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 NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...EASTERN EDDY COUNTY
 
AT 620 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF TOLNA...OR 30 MILES SOUTHEAST OF DEVILS LAKE. THIS STORM
WAS MOVING TO THE EAST AT 30 MPH...AND WILL REACH THE NELSON COUNTY
BORDER AT 640 PM.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...MOVE INTO A STRONG BUILDING.
DONT USE TELEPHONES OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES AND STAY AWAY FROM
WINDOWS.

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 Sep 7, 3:00 PM CDT, 3 hours 22 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 7, 3:00 PM CDT, 3 hours 22 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
300 PM CDT SUN SEP 7 1997

FCST PROBLEM FOR TONIGHT WL BE TIMING OF FNT AND ANY ASSOCIATED
SHRA/TSRA.  LATEST SFC ANAL SHOWS FNT STRETCHING JUST W OF A DVL-BIS
LN.  BOTH MODELS HAVE SLOWED SYSTEM DOWN CONSIDERABLY FROM LAST RUN.
GIVEN CURRENT TIMING...FNT SHD BE GOING THRU DVL LATER THIS PM...THEN
THRU GFK ARND 06Z...AND NOT REACHING EXTRM EASTERN PTN OF CWA TIL EARLY
MORNING.  ADAP GRAPHICS SHOW GOOD MOISTURE CONV AHD OF FNT...WITH DWPTS
POOLING IN LO-MID 60S ACRS MOST OF CWA.  ADAP ALSO SHOWS AXIS OF LOW LI
AND OF FNT WITH CAP ALMST GONE.  ALTHO MODELS SHOW BULK OF ENERGY WITH
H5 S/W RMNG N OF BORDER...ETA AND NGM BOTH SHOW WK VORT LOBE CROSSING
AREA THRU PD.  AS A RESULT...STILL THINK ITS WORTH KEEPING SHRA/TSRA IN
FOR AN EVE PD OVR ERN ND...AND THRU MOST OF NIGHT IN NWRN MN GIVEN SLOW
SPEED OF SYSTEM.

FOR TEMPS...WITH NOT MUCH IN THE WAY OF CLD COVER EXPCTD IMMEDIATELY
BEHIND THIS FNT...LOOK FOR COOLEST TEMPS OVR WRN PTN OF CWA...VCNTY
DVL...WITH MILDEST OVR BJI/PKD.

SUGGESTIONS FOR ND:  DVL...PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A 20% CHC OF AN EVENING
SHOWER OR TSTM.  LOW 50-55. WIND NW 5-15.
GFK...PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A 30% CHC OF A SHOWER OR TSTM UNTIL MIDNIGHT.
LOW IN THE MIDDLE 50S.  WIND S 5-15 BCMG W.
FAR...PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A 30% CHC OF A SHOWER OR TSTM UNTIL MIDNIGHT.
LOW 55-60.  WIND S 5-15 BCMG W LATE.

SUGGESTIONS FOR MN:  FOR NW CORNER...HCO/ROX/TVF/FSE...PARTLY CLOUDY
WITH A 30% CHC OF A SHOWER OR TSTM...ENDING AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOW MID
50S. WIND S 5-15 BCMG W LATE.
FOR PTN OF W CNTRL...DTL/FFM...PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A 30% CHC OF A SHOWER
OR TSTM...ENDING AFT MIDNIGHT.  LOW 55-60. WIND SE 5-15 BCMG W LATE.
FOR PERPETUALLY CLDY STRIP...BDE/BJI/PKD...MSTLY CLDY WITH A 30% CHC OF
SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS. LOW 55-60.  WIND S-SE 5-15.

STRAGER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 7, 6:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Nelson	25 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.