Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Grand Forks, ND

June 19, 1997Polk County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jun 19, 1997, 5:26 PM CDT for Polk County, Minnesota. It was in force for 34 min. 2 reports 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: Jun 19, 1997, 5:26 PM CDT (22:26 UTC)
Expired: Jun 19, 1997, 6:00 PM CDT
In force: 34 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 22:26 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
Jun 19, 5:39 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Euclid, MN
Jun 19, 6:10 PM CDT	Tornado F0	East Grand Forks, MN	Brief touchdown in a field.

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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jun 19, 5:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 246 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1473 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 37 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 192224 RRA
TORFAR
MNC119-192300-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
526 PM CDT THU JUN 19 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  600 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
 
   ...WESTERN POLK COUNTY
 
AT 521 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 6 MILES EAST OF GRAND FORKS
MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH. PERSONS IN THE EUCLID AND DOROTHY AREAS TAKE
SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.
 
 
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.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 19, 4:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Polk	28 min
Jun 19, 5:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Polk	31 min
Jun 19, 6:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Polk	11 min

Nearby

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