Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 13, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 1, 1997Polk County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 1, 1997, 6:16 PM CDT for Polk County, Minnesota. It was in force for 14 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
Jul 1, 1997, 6:16 PM CDT (23:16 UTC)
Expired
Jul 1, 1997, 6:30 PM CDT
In force
14 min
Issued by
NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area
Whole counties

County Polk County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 74 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:20 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

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 343 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 1997-07-01Temperature 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, Bismarck Municip, ND at 12:00Z on 1997-07-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 144 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
1775 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
60 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
144 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
352 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 012318 RRA
TORFAR
MNC119-012330-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
616 PM CDT TUE JUL 1 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
 
   ...EASTERN POLK COUNTY
 
AT 615 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 3 MILES NORTHEAST OF
MENTOR...OR 45 MILES SOUTHEAST OF GRAND FORKS... MOVING NORTH AT 10 MPH.
THE TOWN OF MENTOR AND MAPLE LAKE CONTINUED TO BE AFFTECTED BY THIS STOR
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR UNDER STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
IN A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET.  COVER YOURSELF
WITH BLANKETS...PILLOWS OR CUSHIONS.
 
KENNEDY

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 1, 8:35 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFRed Lake25 min
Jul 1, 3:40 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningFGFPolk2 hr
Jul 1, 3:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFLake of the Woods25 min
Jul 1, 4:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFLake of the Woods46 min
Jul 1, 5:37 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFPolk38 min
Jul 1, 6:45 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFPolk30 min
Jul 1, 6:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFRed Lake17 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.