Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 219, NWS Grand Forks, ND

September 16, 1997Ramsey County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 16, 1997, 1:41 AM CDT for Ramsey County, North Dakota. It was in force for 49 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 16, 1997, 1:41 AM CDT (06:41 UTC)
Expired: Sep 16, 1997, 2:30 AM CDT
In force: 49 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Ramsey County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 133 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:42 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 16, 2:00 AM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Devils Lake, ND	Several large tree limbs were blown down and some crop damage was reported.

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 00:00Z, 6.7 hours before the alert went out and 223 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: 353 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -297 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1197 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 114 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 282 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFAR 160640 RRA
SVRFAR
NDC071-160730-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
141 AM CDT TUE SEP 16 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  230 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...RAMSEY COUNTY
 
AT 140 AM RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM
NEAR KNOX...TO NEAR SHEYENNE OR 40 MILES NORTHWEST TO 25 MILES SOUTHWEST
OF DEVILS LAKE. THESE STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MILES AN HOUR
AND WILL MOVE INTO THE RAMSEY COUNTY COMMUNITIES OF CHURCHS FERRY
...PENN...DEVILS LAKE AND CRARY.z
 
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.
EWENS

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 15, 9:00 PM CDT, 4 hours 41 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 15, 9:00 PM CDT, 4 hours 41 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
900 PM CDT MON SEP 15 1997

FCST CHALLENGE FOR RMDR OF TONIGHT CONTS TO BE TSTM DVLPMNT/SVR
POTENTIAL.  LATEST SFC ANAL SHOWS LO IN ERN MT VCNTY GGW...WITH WRM FNT
XTNDG SE FM LOW...THEN ACRS CNTRL SD.  WV SAT LOOP SHOWS GOOD SW-NE
ALIGNED JET MOVG INTO SWRN WY WITH NGM...ETA...AND 21Z RUC ALL PICKING
UP THIS FEATURE.  ALTHO MODELS DIFFER SOMEWHAT IN RESOLVING THE
SPECIFICS...THEY ALL SHOW THIS JET CRASHING INTO RIDGE OVR NXT 12
HRS...WITH H5 RIDGE AXIS PROPOGATING QUICKLY TO EAST DURG PD. MODELS
SHOW STG UPPER LVL DIVGERGENCE ASSTD WITH JET MOVG INTO NCNTRL ND BY
06Z...THEN SPRDG E-SE OVR RED RIVER VALLEY BY 12Z.  GIVEN THIS
SCENARIO...FEEL CURRENT ZONES HAVE GOOD HANDLE ON TIMING.  AS FAR AS
SEVERE GOES...QUICK LOOK AT 00Z SOUNDINGS FM BIS AND ABR AS WELL AS
LOOKING AT 12Z GRIDDED DATA...CAN SEE NO REASON TO DROP MENTION OF SVR.
WL ALSO LOOK AT POSSIBILITY OF EXTNDG MENTION OF SVR INTO WESTERNMOST
SLICE OF NW MN COUNTIES SINCE IF MCS DVLPS FEEL IT WILL CONT INTO THIS
AREA BEFORE END OF FIRST PD.  FOR TEMPS...ACRS MN CWA WL DROP TEMPS
VCNTY BDE A NOTCH AS SINCE WARM AIR STILL OFF TO SOUTH.  CONVERSELY...
MAY ALSO BUMP UP DTL/FFM A BIT.  ONLY MINOR TWEAKS FOR ND SIDE ON
UPDATE.

STRAGER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 16, 1:19 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Barnes	41 min
Sep 16, 1:28 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson, Eddy	47 min
Sep 16, 2:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Barnes	30 min
Sep 16, 3:29 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Grand Forks, Steele	31 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.