Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 25, 1997Walsh County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 25, 1997, 5:27 PM CDT for Walsh County, North Dakota. It was in force for 33 min. 3 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: Jul 25, 1997, 5:27 PM CDT (22:27 UTC)
Expired: Jul 25, 1997, 6:00 PM CDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Walsh County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:28 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
Jul 25, 5:38 PM CDT	Hail 1	Park River, ND
Jul 25, 6:10 PM CDT	Hail 1.5	Pisek, ND
Jul 25, 6:10 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Pisek, ND	Trees were blown down in Pisek.

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
Jul 25, 4:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 286 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: 655 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -252 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1262 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 35 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 42 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 252227 RRA
TORFAR
NDC099-252300-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
527 PM CDT FRI JUL 25 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 NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA
 
   ...WALSH COUNTY
 
AT 525 PM RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 3 MILES SOUTH OF PARK RIVER OR 40
MILES NORTHWEST OF GRAND FORKS. THIS STORM WAS DEVELOPING AS IT MOVED
NORTHEAST AT 10 MILES AN HOUR.
 
THE CITY OF PARK RIVER IS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED
BUILDING.  AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH
OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.  WATCH FOR
RISING WATER.
EWENS

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 24, 8:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Towner	35 min
Jul 25, 12:32 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson	28 min
Jul 25, 4:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cavalier	32 min
Jul 25, 6:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Walsh	30 min
Jul 25, 6:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Sargent	34 min
Jul 25, 6:45 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FGF	Walsh	2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 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.