Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 3, NWS Sioux Falls, SD
NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 17, 1997, 8:05 PM CDT for Cottonwood County, Minnesota. It was in force for 45 min. 1 report 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
- May 17, 1997, 8:05 PM CDT (01:05 UTC)
- Expired
- May 17, 1997, 8:50 PM CDT
- In force
- 45 min
- Issued by
- NWS Sioux Falls, SD
- Area
- Whole counties
County Cottonwood County, MN
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 17, 8:15 PM CDT | Hail 0.88 | Westbrook, MN |
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
Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 00:00Z, 1.1 hours before the alert went out and 157 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2705 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 50 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 137 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 421 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
127 WUUS1 KFSD 180106 RRA SVRFSD MNC033-180150- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 805 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997 * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR NORTHERN COTTONWOOD COUNTY - IN SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA * UNTIL 850 PM CDT * THIS STORM IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN IN RURAL AREAS. * AT 805 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 8 MILES NORTHWEST OF WESTBROOK MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH. A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES. SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY CONTAIN SMALL HAIL...GUSTY WINDS...DEADLY LIGHTNING AND VERY HEAVY DOWNPOURS OF RAIN.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 17, 9:46 AM CDT, 10 hours 19 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 17, 9:46 AM CDT, 10 hours 19 minutes before
SOUTH DAKOTA/NORTHWEST IOWA/SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD 945 AM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997 AS SUSPECTED YESTERDAY BACKDOOR COOLING HAS AFFECTED AREA FM SW MN TO ERN SD THIS MRNG AND MAY BE SLOW TO RECOVER. CURRENT FCST BROADBRUSHES TEMPS TOO MUCH IN CWA AND WL PROBABLY UPDATE AT LEAST SW MN FOR LOWER TEMPS THIS AFTN. MISSOURI AND JAMES RIVER AREA SHUD WARM UP DRAMATICALLY AS WMFNT MOVES NEWD FM CNTRL DKTS AND NE NEB THIS AFTN. NGM POOR WITH SFC PATTERN CONFUSING THIS WMFNT WITH MAIN SFC TROF AS DVLPG COOL FNT STILL BACK FM FAR ERN MONT THRU ERN WY ATTM. EXPECT SFC CYCLOGENESIS FM WRN DKTS TO WRN NEB THIS AFTN WITH DIURNAL HEATING AND APPROACH OF MAIN UPR TROF STILL BACK IN IDAHO. THIS WL KICK IN INCRG SLY FLW FM KS TO ERN DKTS BY TNGT BRINGING MUCH BTR LOW LVL MOISTURE NWD TNGT. SPC MOD RISK MAY HAVE TO BE ADJUSTED SWD TOWARDS BTR GULF MOISTURE. .FSD...NONE RYRHOLM
The office that day
Everything else NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 17, 8:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FSD | Cottonwood | 49 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 1997Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.