Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 506

June 22, 199729 counties in North Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 22, 1997, 3:30 PM MDT for 29 counties in North Dakota. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 22, 1997, 3:30 PM MDT (21:30 UTC)
Expired: Jun 22, 1997, 10:00 PM MDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 29 counties

Adams County, ND, Barnes County, ND, Burleigh County, ND, Cass County, ND, Dickey County, ND, Dunn County, ND, Eddy County, ND, Emmons County, ND, Foster County, ND, Grant County, ND, Griggs County, ND, Hettinger County, ND, Kidder County, ND, LaMoure County, ND, Logan County, ND, McIntosh County, ND, McLean County, ND, Mercer County, ND, Morton County, ND, Oliver County, ND, Ransom County, ND, Sargent County, ND, Sheridan County, ND, Sioux County, ND, Stark County, ND, Steele County, ND, Stutsman County, ND, Traill County, ND, Wells County, ND

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 37 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:33 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 22, 6:05 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Barnes	25 min
Jun 22, 6:31 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Barnes, Cass	29 min
Jun 22, 7:02 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cass	28 min
Jun 22, 7:26 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Steele, Traill	34 min
Jun 22, 7:33 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cass	27 min
Jun 22, 7:51 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Foster	69 min
Jun 22, 9:14 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Billings, Dunn	61 min
Jun 22, 9:25 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Dunn	50 min
Jun 22, 9:36 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Mercer	69 min

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 35 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: 137 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -194 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1145 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 66 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 174 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 180 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

321 
WWUS9 KMKC 222056
SEL6  
MKC WW 222056
NDZ000-230400-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 506
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
356 PM CDT SUN JUN 22 1997

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   CENTRAL AND EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA                       

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 430 PM UNTIL 1100
PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 85 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 65 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM DICKINSON NORTH DAKOTA TO 80 MILES EAST OF
JAMESTOWN NORTH DAKOTA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 501...WW 502...WW
503...WW 504...WW 505...

DISCUSSION...INCREASING THREAT FOR SUPERCELLS THIS EVENING IN
INTENSIFYING WARM ADVECTION ZONE BENEATH ENTRANCE REGION OF STRONG
UPPER JET.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 75 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25035.


...CORFIDI

474,1024 475,0965 455,0965 455,1024

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 22, 3:30 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Billings, Bowman, Divide, Dunn, Golden Valley and 5 more	7 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Dakota, 1997 Every 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.