Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 12, NWS Twin Cities, MN
NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this tornado warning at Jul 1, 1997, 6:39 PM CDT for Meeker County, Minnesota. It was in force for 36 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
- Jul 1, 1997, 6:39 PM CDT (23:39 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 1, 1997, 7:15 PM CDT
- In force
- 36 min
- Issued by
- NWS Twin Cities, MN
- Area
- Whole counties
County Meeker County, MN
The radar
The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 82 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:43 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 1, 6:52 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 60 | Greenleaf, MN | 15 acres of trees blown down on east side of Lake Willie. Roof torn off shed about one half mile nw of town. Barn destroyed 2 miles nw of Greenleaf. |
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 1, 3:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 79 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
- 1531 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -61 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 923 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 22 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 41 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 63 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.7
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
TTAA00 KMSP 012339 RRA
TORMSP
MNC093-020015-
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
639 PM CDT TUE JUL 1 1997
* TORNADO WARNING FOR
EASTERN MEEKER COUNTY - CENTRAL MINNESOTA
* UNTIL 715 PM CDT
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
LITCHFIELD
DARWIN
FOREST CITY
* AT 637 PM CDT SEVERE WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO 6 MILES
SOUTH OF LITCHFIELD. THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.
A TORNADO IS ON THE GROUND! TAKE SHELTER NOW!
JMM!
&The office that day
Everything else NWS Twin Cities, MN issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 1, 3:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Lac qui Parle | 32 min |
| Jul 1, 3:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, Swift | 44 min |
| Jul 1, 4:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Pope, Swift | 63 min |
| Jul 1, 5:03 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Renville | 57 min |
| Jul 1, 5:04 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Chippewa | 56 min |
| Jul 1, 5:17 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Renville | 43 min |
| Jul 1, 5:23 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Chippewa, Kandiyohi | 37 min |
| Jul 1, 5:34 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Meeker | 56 min |
| Jul 1, 6:01 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Kandiyohi | 29 min |
| Jul 1, 6:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Renville | 50 min |
| Jul 1, 6:28 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Wright | 32 min |
| Jul 1, 6:35 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | McLeod | 55 min |
| Jul 1, 6:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Stearns | 51 min |
| Jul 1, 6:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Benton, Sherburne | 49 min |
| Jul 1, 6:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Wright | 35 min |
| Jul 1, 6:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Carver, Sibley | 62 min |
| Jul 1, 6:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Hennepin | 62 min |
Nearby
Tornado 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.