Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Twin Cities, MN

June 22, 1997Watonwan County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this tornado warning at Jun 22, 1997, 8:17 PM CDT for Watonwan County, Minnesota. It was in force for 48 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: Jun 22, 1997, 8:17 PM CDT (01:17 UTC)
Expired: Jun 22, 1997, 9:05 PM CDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Whole counties

County Watonwan County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 128 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:16 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
Jun 22, 8:20 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	St James, MN	Measured by local radio station.

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
Jun 22, 5:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 00:00Z, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 126 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: 1565 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -91 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1227 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 78 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 388 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

774 
WFUS1 KMSP 230119 RRA
TORMSP
MNC165-230205-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
817 PM CDT SUN JUN 22 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  WATONWAN COUNTY - SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 905 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    ECHOLS
    ORMSBY
    SOUTH BRANCH

* AT 815 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 5 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF ST JAMES OR 25 MILES NORTHWEST OF FAIRMONT.  THE
  STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

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

DME/CWS

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 22, 7:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Brown	60 min
Jun 22, 8:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Watonwan	49 min
Jun 22, 8:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Blue Earth, Faribault	61 min
Jun 22, 8:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Martin	34 min
Jun 22, 9:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Nicollet	44 min
Jun 22, 9:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Nicollet	59 min
Jun 22, 11:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Douglas	69 min
Jun 23, 12:47 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Todd	63 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.