Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 40, NWS Twin Cities, MN

September 18, 1997Morrison County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this tornado warning at Sep 18, 1997, 5:24 PM CDT for Morrison County, Minnesota. It was in force for 51 min. 3 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: Sep 18, 1997, 5:24 PM CDT (22:24 UTC)
Expired: Sep 18, 1997, 6:15 PM CDT
In force: 51 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Whole counties

County Morrison County, MN

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Sep 18, 5:25 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Camp Ripley Jct, MN
Sep 18, 6:15 PM CDT	Tornado F3	Lastrup, MN	Several buildings destroyed and numerous other buildings damaged. Hundreds of trees down. A number of cattle killed in barn collapse. One man injured when the tornado engulfed his car and threw it into a nearby woods. A second man critically injured when his
Sep 18, 6:20 PM CDT	Hail 3	Hillman, 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 nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 139 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: 228 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -404 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1391 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 477 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 490 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

336 
WFUS1 KMSP 182227 RRA
TORMSP
MNC097-182315-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
524 PM CDT THU SEP 18 1997


* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  MORRISON COUNTY - CENTRAL MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 615 PM CDT

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    LITTLE FALLS
    CAMP RIPLEY
    PIERZ/GENOLA
    LASTRUP

* AT 525 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A POSSIBLE TORNADO JUST
  NORTHWEST AND NORTH OF LITTLE FALLS...OR ABOUT 30 MILES  NORTH
  OF ST CLOUD.  THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.  A FUNNEL
  CLOUD WAS REPORTED BY THE PUBLIC ONE MILE WEST OF LITTLE FALLS.

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

TDK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 18, 5:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Morrison	32 min
Sep 18, 5:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Mille Lacs	67 min
Sep 18, 6:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Douglas, Todd	26 min
Sep 18, 6:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Mille Lacs, Morrison	52 min
Sep 18, 6:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Kanabec	66 min
Sep 18, 6:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Kanabec	60 min
Sep 18, 6:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Morrison, Todd	41 min
Sep 18, 6:57 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Mille Lacs	33 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.