Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 291

May 17, 199716 counties in Minnesota; 4 counties in North Dakota; 17 counties in South Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 17, 1997, 7:15 PM CDT for 16 counties in Minnesota; 4 counties in North Dakota; 17 counties in South Dakota. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 17, 1997, 7:15 PM CDT (00:15 UTC)
Expired
May 18, 1997, 1:00 AM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 37 counties

Big Stone County, MN, Chippewa County, MN, Grant County, MN, Lac qui Parle County, MN, Lincoln County, MN, Lyon County, MN, Murray County, MN, Nobles County, MN, Otter Tail County, MN, Pipestone County, MN, Rock County, MN, Stevens County, MN, Swift County, MN, Traverse County, MN, Wilkin County, MN, Yellow Medicine County, MN, LaMoure County, ND, Ransom County, ND, Richland County, ND, Sargent County, ND, Brookings County, SD, Brown County, SD, Clark County, SD, Codington County, SD, Day County, SD, Deuel County, SD, Grant County, SD, Hamlin County, SD, Hanson County, SD, Kingsbury County, SD, Lake County, SD, Marshall County, SD, McCook County, SD, Miner County, SD, Minnehaha County, SD, Moody County, SD, Roberts County, SD

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 141 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:17 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.

Warnings issued inside it

6 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 17, 7:41 PM CDTTornado WarningABRMarshall19 min
May 17, 8:02 PM CDTTornado WarningABRMarshall33 min
May 17, 8:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABRMarshall, Roberts47 min
May 17, 9:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABRBig Stone, Traverse49 min
May 17, 9:26 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABRRoberts49 min
May 17, 9:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningABRBig Stone48 min

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 157 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 1997-05-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 590 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 1997-05-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 59 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
590 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-54 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2608 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
59 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
110 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

Nearby

Tornado Watches in South Dakota, 1997Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 1997Tornado Watches in North Dakota, 1997Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.