Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 201, NWS Grand Forks, ND

September 7, 1997Kittson County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 7, 1997, 7:34 PM CDT for Kittson County, Minnesota. It was in force for 26 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Sep 7, 1997, 7:34 PM CDT (00:34 UTC)
Expired
Sep 7, 1997, 8:00 PM CDT
In force
26 min
Issued by
NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area
Whole counties

County Kittson County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 145 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:36 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.

The nearest sounding before it

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 257 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, International Fa, MN at 00:00Z on 1997-09-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, International Fa, MN at 00:00Z on 1997-09-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 160 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
709 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
160 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
220 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.

239 
WUUS1 KFAR 080035 RRA
SVRFAR
MNC069-080100-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
734 PM CDT SUN SEP 7 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  800 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
 
   ...KITTSON COUNTY
 
AT 731 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM
CARIBOU TO ROBBIN...OR FROM 70 TO 40 MILES NORTHEAST OF GRAND FORKS.
THESE STORMS WILL PASS THROUGH THE TOWNS OF KENNEDY...LANCASTER AND
ROBBIN.
 
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.

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, 4 hours 34 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 7, 3:00 PM CDT, 4 hours 34 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 7, 7:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFRoseau39 min
Sep 7, 7:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFRoseau31 min
Sep 7, 8:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFMarshall28 min
Sep 7, 9:03 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFMarshall, Polk27 min
Sep 7, 9:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFPennington, Polk31 min
Sep 7, 10:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFPolk30 min
Sep 7, 10:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFNorman, Polk29 min
Sep 7, 11:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFClay38 min
Sep 7, 11:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFClay40 min
Sep 8, 12:30 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFClay30 min
Sep 8, 12:40 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFWilkin35 min
Sep 8, 4:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFWilkin38 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.