Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 29, NWS Grand Forks, ND

August 5, 1997Cass County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Aug 5, 1997, 6:51 PM CDT for Cass County, North Dakota. It was in force for 29 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: Aug 5, 1997, 6:51 PM CDT (23:51 UTC)
Expired: Aug 5, 1997, 7:20 PM CDT
In force: 29 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Cass County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 66 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:51 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
Aug 5, 7:08 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Fargo, ND	The strong wind blew down a building under construction. The Fargo ASOS recorded a peak wind of 41 knots.
Aug 5, 7:16 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Casselton, ND	Wind speed was estimated.

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
Aug 5, 4:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 11.9 hours before the alert went out and 243 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: 1373 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -23 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 18 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 052352 COR
TORFAR
NDC017-060020-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED ...CORRECTION
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
651 PM CDT TUE AUG 5 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  720 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA

   ...CASS COUNTY

AT 650 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO NEAR ARGUSVILLE...OR 15
MILES NORTH OF FARGO. THIS TORNADO WAS MOVING TO THE SOUTHEAST AT 30
MPH. RADAR ALSO INDICATES DAMAGING WINDS NEAR PAGE NORTH DAKOTA...OR 30
MILES NORTHWEST OF FARGO. TOWNS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ARE FARGO
AND AYR.
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE 2SAFEST 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
Aug 5, 3:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Pembina	36 min
Aug 5, 3:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Pembina	31 min
Aug 5, 4:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Walsh	38 min
Aug 5, 4:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Grand Forks	27 min
Aug 5, 4:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Grand Forks	32 min
Aug 5, 5:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Traill	33 min

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.