Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 24, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 26, 1997Cass County, North Dakota; Clay County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 26, 1997, 3:47 PM CDT for Cass County, North Dakota; Clay County, Minnesota. It was in force for 28 min. 4 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 26, 1997, 3:47 PM CDT (20:47 UTC)
Expired
Jul 26, 1997, 4:15 PM CDT
In force
28 min
Issued by
NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area
Whole counties

Counties Clay County, MN, Cass County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 77 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:49 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jul 26, 4:10 PM CDTHail 0.75Hawley, MN
Jul 26, 4:10 PM CDTTornado F0Argusville, ND
Jul 26, 4:15 PM CDTHail 1Felton, MN
Jul 26, 4:22 PM CDTTornado F0Fargo, MNRapid convection produced a brief tornado touchdown.

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

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 253 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 12:00Z on 1997-07-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 36 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 12:00Z on 1997-07-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -96 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
36 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-205 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1098 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-96 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
450 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-2.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 25, 7:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFSargent28 min
Jul 25, 7:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFSargent15 min
Jul 26, 4:19 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFCass26 min
Jul 25, 7:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFKittson, Marshall28 min
Jul 25, 7:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFRoseau26 min
Jul 26, 4:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFClay28 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 1997Tornado 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.