Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Sioux Falls, SD

July 7, 1997Lincoln County, Minnehaha County, South Dakota

NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued this tornado warning at Jul 7, 1997, 4:41 PM CDT for Lincoln County, Minnehaha County, South Dakota. It was in force for 29 min. 5 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 7, 1997, 4:41 PM CDT (21:41 UTC)
Expired: Jul 7, 1997, 5:10 PM CDT
In force: 29 min
Issued by: NWS Sioux Falls, SD
Area: Whole counties

Counties Lincoln County, SD, Minnehaha County, SD

The radar

The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 13 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:41 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 7, 4:42 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Sioux Falls, SD
Jul 7, 4:53 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Canton, SD	A brief tornado observed by a local spotter resulted in no reported damage.
Jul 7, 4:58 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 61	Brandon, SD
Jul 7, 5:00 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Harrisburg, SD	A brief tornado observed by a local spotter resulted in no reported damage.
Jul 7, 5:17 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Hudson, SD	A brief tornado observed by a local spotter resulted in no reported damage.

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 7, 4:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 205 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: 606 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 113 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 76 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 KFSD 072142 RRA
TORFSD
SDC083-099-072210-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
441 PM CDT MON JUL 7 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  NORTHERN LINCOLN COUNTY - SOUTHEASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA
  SOUTHEASTERN MINNEHAHA COUNTY - SOUTHEASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 510 PM CDT
 
* SOME AREAS AFFECTED
  GARRETSON                AROUND 440 PM CDT
  SHERMAN                  AROUND 445 PM CDT

* AT 436 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOTTERS REPORTED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO 8 MILES NORTHEAST OF SIOUX FALLS  OR 8 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF GARRETSON MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.
 
THIS TORNADO WARNING DOES NOT INCLUDE SIOUX FALLS.

AT 435 PM A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EMPLOYEE REPORTED A FUNNEL
CLOUD 8 SOUTHEAST OF SIOUX FALLS MOVING EAST.


PEOPLE IN SOUTHEAST MINNEHAHA AND NORTHERN LINCOLN
COUNTIES ARE IN THE PROJECTED PATH OF THE TORNADO AND
SHOULD TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. MOVE INSIDE A STORM CELLAR... A
BASEMENT...OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR
HOUSE.

BLOOM

&

The office that day

Everything else NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 7, 4:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Turner	33 min
Jul 7, 4:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Lincoln, Minnehaha	46 min
Jul 7, 4:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Clay, Union	34 min
Jul 7, 5:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Lincoln	30 min
Jul 7, 5:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FSD	Union	32 min
Jul 7, 5:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FSD	Lincoln	34 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South 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.