Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 216, NWS Grand Forks, ND

September 12, 1997Sargent County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 12, 1997, 5:20 AM CDT for Sargent County, North Dakota. It was in force for 25 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 12, 1997, 5:20 AM CDT (10:20 UTC)
Expired
Sep 12, 1997, 5:45 AM CDT
In force
25 min
Issued by
NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area
Whole counties

County Sargent County, ND

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:21 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

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 147 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, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 1997-09-12Temperature 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, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 1997-09-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 238 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1398 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
238 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
385 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.

000 
TTAA00 KFAR 121019 RRA
SVRFAR
NDC081-121045-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
520 AM CDT FRI SEP 12 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...NORTHERN SARGENT COUNTY
 
AT 518 AM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR
COGSWELL...OR 50 MILES SOUTH OF VALLEY CITY. THIS STORM WAS MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH AND WILL AFFECT FORMAN AND GWINNER.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...MOVE INTO A STRONG BUILDING.
DON'T USE TELEPHONES OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES AND SfTAY 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 12, 3:51 AM CDT, 1 hour 29 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 12, 3:51 AM CDT, 1 hour 29 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
250 AM CDT FRI SEP 13 1997

PROB TDY WILL BE CHANCE FOR SEVERE TSRA WITH APPROACHING FRONT AND
TEMPS. TSRA DEVELOPED OVERNIGHT AHEAD OF WARMFRONT IN STRONG H8 WAA AND
TEMP GRADIENT. ETA WAS BEST AT PICKING UP ON THIS FEATURE. 30-40 LLJET
EVIDENT FROM KMVX VAD WINDS SHOULD KEEP TSRA GOING DURING MORNING HOURS
MAINLY OVR E ND AS WAA SHIFTS N EVEN WITH LIMITED MOIST AND INSTABILITY.
LATER THIS AFTERNOON MORE TSRA A GOOD BET AS SHORTWAVE MOVING INTO
CENTRAL ROCKIES FROM WV LOOP INTERACTS WITH SFC BOUNDARY PROGGED OVR
CENT DAKOTAS AT 00Z.  QUESTION WILL BE SEVERE POTENTIAL. STRONG 40 TO
50KT LLJ PROGGED TO CONTINUE ALL DAY ADVECTING MOIST NORTHWARD. MODELS
HOWEVER KEEP DEWPOINTS BLO 60 THIS AFTERNOON. ALSO CLD COVER COULD
INHIBIT SFC HEATING RESULTING IN MARGINAL INSTABILITY AND CAPE. ATTM
WILL NOT MENTION SEVERE HOWEVER SIT WILL HAVE TO MONITORED. SEVERE
POTENTIAL WILL INCREASE IF MORE SOLAR OCCURS AND TD'S INCREASE GREATER
THAN MODELS INDICATE. MODIFIED MODEL SOUNDING FOR TEMP/TD AT FAR YIELD
LI OF -4 AND CAPE APPROACHING 1200. OTWS CLDS WILL INCREASE ACROSS EXT
N MN WITH PC TO MOCLDY SKIES ELSEWHERE. TEMPS WILL BE TRICKY GOVERNED
BY CLD COVER. WITH WARM START AND PARTIAL SUN ALONG WITH GOOD WAA AND
MIXING TEMPS COULD APPROACH MOS VALUES. ATTM PLENTY OF CLD COVER
UPSTREAM SO PSBLY SHAVE TEMPS A LITTLE DOWNWARD FROM MOS.
FOR DVL...MOCLDY WITH ISOLD -TSRA AM AND GOOD CHC FOR MORE TSRA THIS
AFTERNOON. HIGH MID 70S. SE 15 TO 25 MPH.
GFK...WDLY SCATTERED AM TSRA AND GOOD CHANCE FOR MORE TSRA LATER THIS
AFTERNOON. HIGH 75 TO 80. SE 15 TO 25.
FAR...WDLY SCATTERED AM TSRA AND GOOD CHANCE FOR MORE TSRA LATER THIS
AFTERNOON. HIGH 75 TO 80. SE 15 TO 25.
ROX/BDE/BJI...INC CLDS WITH WDLY SCT SHRA ISOLD TSRA DEVELOPING AROUND
MID AM. HIGH MID 70S SE 15 TO 25.
TVF/DTL/FFM...MOCLDY WITH WDLY SCT SHRA ISOLD TSRA AM...CHC OF LATE PM
TSRA. HIGH MID TO UPPER 70S. SE 15 TO 25 MPH
VOELKER

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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.