Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 204, NWS Twin Cities, MN

August 15, 1997Dakota County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 15, 1997, 6:27 PM CDT for Dakota County, Minnesota. It was in force for 63 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: Aug 15, 1997, 6:27 PM CDT (23:27 UTC)
Expired: Aug 15, 1997, 7:30 PM CDT
In force: 63 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Whole counties

County Dakota County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 44 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:30 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 15, 6:50 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Miesville, 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Aug 15, 4:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 47 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: 738 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -34 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 698 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 58 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 66 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KMSP 152327 RRA
SVRMSP
MNC037-160030-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
627 PM CDT FRI AUG 15 1997


* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  DAKOTA COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    BURNSVILLE
    APPLE VALLEY
    FARMINGTON
    LAKEVILLE

* AT 630 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE STORM WITH LARGE
  HAIL NEAR PRIOR LAKE...OR ABOUT 25 MILES SOUTH OF MINNEAPOLIS.
  THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AS IT PASSED
  THROUGH SCOTT COUNTY. THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM...WITH LARGE HAIL.  STAY INDOORS AWAY
FROM WINDOWS.

A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT.  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE
TORNADOES.

MILLER


&

The office that day

Everything else NWS Twin Cities, MN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 14, 7:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Dakota, Rice	46 min
Aug 14, 7:50 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Le Sueur, Rice	100 min
Aug 14, 7:50 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Le Sueur, Rice	40 min
Aug 15, 4:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	McLeod, Meeker, Renville	42 min
Aug 15, 4:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Wright	32 min
Aug 15, 5:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	McLeod	58 min
Aug 15, 5:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Carver	64 min
Aug 15, 5:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Mille Lacs, Sherburne	34 min
Aug 15, 5:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Anoka, Isanti	61 min
Aug 15, 6:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Scott	66 min
Aug 15, 6:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Chisago	30 min
Aug 15, 6:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Le Sueur	50 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 1997 Every 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.