Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 547

July 1, 199728 counties in South Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 1, 1997, 1:00 PM CDT for 28 counties in South Dakota. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 1, 1997, 1:00 PM CDT (18:00 UTC)
Expired: Jul 1, 1997, 7:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 28 counties

Aurora County, SD, Beadle County, SD, Brookings County, SD, Brown County, SD, Brule County, SD, Clark County, SD, Codington County, SD, Davison County, SD, Day County, SD, Deuel County, SD, Edmunds County, SD, Faulk County, SD, Grant County, SD, Hamlin County, SD, Hand County, SD, Hanson County, SD, Jerauld County, SD, Kingsbury County, SD, Lake County, SD, Marshall County, SD, McCook County, SD, McPherson County, SD, Miner County, SD, Minnehaha County, SD, Moody County, SD, Roberts County, SD, Sanborn County, SD, Spink County, SD

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 1, 1:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Spink	60 min
Jul 1, 1:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Codington, Hamlin	62 min
Jul 1, 3:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Hamlin	48 min
Jul 1, 3:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Day	47 min

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 6.0 hours before the alert went out and 61 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: 1327 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -72 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1148 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 51 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 19 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

430 
WWUS9 KMKC 011729
SEL7  
MKC WW 011729
SDZ000-020000-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 547
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1229 PM CDT TUE JUL 1 1997

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

   EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA                       

EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 100 PM UNTIL 700
PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 75 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 70 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 40 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF ABERDEEN SOUTH DAKOTA TO
25 MILES SOUTHEAST OF MITCHELL SOUTH 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...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO WATCH
NUMBER 546.  WATCH NUMBER 546 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 100 PM
CDT.

DISCUSSION...LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS HAS SHOWN SIGNS OF ORGANIZING
OVER CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA IN ADVANCE OF VIGOROUS UPPER TROUGH
MOVING TOWARD THE HIGH PLAINS.  SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS A FEW
BREAKS IN CLOUD COVER OVER EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA SUGGESTING LOCAL
AREAS OF ENHANCED HEATING/DESTABILIZATION WILL OCCUR.  STORMS WILL
ENCOUNTER INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE AIR MASS AS THEY SPREAD ACROSS
EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA...WITH POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND
ISOLATED TORNADOES BECOMING MORE FAVORABLE BY MID AFTERNOON. 


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 65 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 23030.


...WEISS

455,0963 433,0961 433,0990 455,0993

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 1, 6:15 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bennett, Butte, Campbell, Corson, Custer, Dewey and 20 more	7 hr
Jul 1, 4:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Campbell, Corson, Dewey, Edmunds, Potter, Walworth	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in South 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.