Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 13, NWS Twin Cities, MN

July 1, 1997Wright County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this tornado warning at Jul 1, 1997, 6:55 PM CDT for Wright County, Minnesota. It was in force for 35 min. 11 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 1, 1997, 6:55 PM CDT (23:55 UTC)
Expired: Jul 1, 1997, 7:30 PM CDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Whole counties

County Wright County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:58 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, 6:58 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 55	Annandale, MN	Large tree blown down. Estimated windspeed and time.
Jul 1, 7:00 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60	Howard Lake, MN	Tree blown onto house. Estimated windspeed.
Jul 1, 7:00 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Waverly, MN	Damage path in the town of Waverly was 1 block wide by 7 blocks long. Garages and barns blown down. Roofs ripped off.
Jul 1, 7:05 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 61	Clearwater, MN	Windows blown in at apartment building. Trees down.
Jul 1, 7:10 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 90	Maple Lake, MN	Three airplanes and two hangars destroyed at Maple Lake airport. Eight foot silo blown onto barn killing 18 cows and 6 steers. Farmstead damage estimated at $150,000. Numerous trees down in town. Roof damage to senior citizen apartment building.
Jul 1, 7:10 PM CDT	Tornado F2	Monticello, MN	Two tornadoes converged on the Prairie Acres housing development 1 south of Monticello at about the same time. Extensive damage in area.
Jul 1, 7:10 PM CDT	Tornado F2	Monticello, MN
Jul 1, 7:10 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 70	Buffalo, MN	Mobile home cut in half by fallen tree. One aircraft overturned at local airport. High school gymnasium lost part of its roof. Estimated windspeed.
Jul 1, 7:15 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 95	Monticello, MN	While several tornadoes converged on the southern edge of town, hurricane force winds battered the northern portions. The intersection of Interstate 94 and highway 25 was hardest hit by downburst winds resulting in extensive roof damage. Every tree in Elliso
Jul 1, 7:16 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 70	Albertville, MN	Numerous trees blown down. Scattered roof damage. In neighboring Otsego, silos toppled and a mobile home destroyed. Roof damage in Otsego and St. Michael. Several Otsego elementary schools experience roof damage. Estimated windspeed.
Jul 1, 7:20 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 55	Delano, MN	Trees down. Estimated windspeed.

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, 11.9 hours before the alert went out and 46 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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMSP 012356 RRA
TORMSP
MNC171-020030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
655 PM CDT TUE JUL 1 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  WRIGHT COUNTY - CENTRAL MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    BUFFALO
    COKATO
    WAVERLY
    MONTROSE

* AT 655 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A TORNADO NEAR COKATO OR 30
  MILES NORTHEAST OF HUTCHINSON.  THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 40
  MPH.

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!

HOWIESON

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, 6:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Meeker	36 min
Jul 1, 6:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Benton, Sherburne	49 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, 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.