Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 648

July 24, 199719 counties in North Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 24, 1997, 5:45 PM CDT for 19 counties in North Dakota. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 24, 1997, 5:45 PM CDT (22:45 UTC)
Expired: Jul 24, 1997, 11:00 PM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Benson County, ND, Bottineau County, ND, Burleigh County, ND, Dunn County, ND, Kidder County, ND, McHenry County, ND, McLean County, ND, Mercer County, ND, Morton County, ND, Mountrail County, ND, Oliver County, ND, Pierce County, ND, Renville County, ND, Rolette County, ND, Sheridan County, ND, Stark County, ND, Towner County, ND, Ward County, ND, Wells County, ND

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:47 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 24, 6:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Bottineau	45 min
Jul 24, 6:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Bottineau	67 min
Jul 24, 7:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Bottineau, Rolette	62 min
Jul 24, 7:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Stark	58 min
Jul 24, 8:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McHenry, Pierce	59 min
Jul 24, 8:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Pierce	65 min
Jul 24, 8:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McLean	65 min
Jul 24, 8:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Rolette	49 min
Jul 24, 8:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Towner	35 min
Jul 24, 9:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McHenry, Pierce	57 min
Jul 24, 9:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McLean	63 min
Jul 24, 10:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McHenry	60 min

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 99 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: 1188 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -188 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 922 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 44 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

188 
WWUS9 KMKC 242205
SEL8  
MKC WW 242205
NDZ000-250400-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 648
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
505 PM CDT THU JUL 24 1997

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

   NORTH DAKOTA                       

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 545 PM UNTIL
1100 PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 3/4 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 80 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 45 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF BISMARCK NORTH DAKOTA TO
70 MILES NORTHEAST OF MINOT 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 647...

DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS ARE BEGINNING TO DEVELOP ALONG COLD
FRONT. SEVERAL SUPERCELL STORMS ARE JUST NORTH OF THE U.S./CANADIAN
BORDER. SOME OF THESE STORMS WILL MOVE SE INTO NORTHERN NORTH
DAKOTA THIS EVENING. AIR MASS IS VERY UNSTABLE WITH SURFACE BASED
CAPES EXCEEDING 4000 J/KG. MAIN THREATS WILL BE FROM DAMAGING WINDS
AND HAIL...ALTHOUGH AN ISOLATED TORNADO IS POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY
OVER THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE WATCH.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 3/4 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
580.  MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 27020.


...VESCIO

463,1031 485,1015 485,0982 463,0995

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 24, 4:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Bottineau, Burke, McHenry, McKenzie, McLean, Mountrail and 6 more	5 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.