Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 719

August 31, 1997Kittson County, Minnesota; 32 counties in North Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Aug 31, 1997, 4:30 PM CDT for Kittson County, Minnesota; 32 counties in North Dakota. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Aug 31, 1997, 4:30 PM CDT (21:30 UTC)
Expired
Aug 31, 1997, 10:00 PM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 33 counties

Kittson County, MN, Barnes County, ND, Benson County, ND, Bottineau County, ND, Burleigh County, ND, Cass County, ND, Cavalier County, ND, Dickey County, ND, Eddy County, ND, Emmons County, ND, Foster County, ND, Grand Forks County, ND, Griggs County, ND, Kidder County, ND, LaMoure County, ND, Logan County, ND, McHenry County, ND, McIntosh County, ND, Nelson County, ND, Pembina County, ND, Pierce County, ND, Ramsey County, ND, Ransom County, ND, Richland County, ND, Rolette County, ND, Sargent County, ND, Sheridan County, ND, Steele County, ND, Stutsman County, ND, Towner County, ND, Traill County, ND, Walsh County, ND, Wells County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 83 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 31, 4:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISStutsman55 min
Aug 31, 4:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISKidder62 min
Aug 31, 4:51 PM CDTTornado WarningBISStutsman39 min
Aug 31, 5:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISStutsman63 min
Aug 31, 5:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISFoster47 min
Aug 31, 5:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFGriggs28 min
Aug 31, 5:55 PM CDTTornado WarningBISStutsman35 min
Aug 31, 6:28 PM CDTTornado WarningBISStutsman32 min
Aug 31, 6:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISKidder, Stutsman51 min
Aug 31, 6:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFBarnes36 min
Aug 31, 6:58 PM CDTTornado WarningBISStutsman17 min
Aug 31, 7:16 PM CDTTornado WarningBISStutsman44 min
Aug 31, 7:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBurleigh, Kidder44 min
Aug 31, 7:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISStutsman33 min
Aug 31, 8:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISKidder47 min
Aug 31, 8:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBurleigh48 min
Aug 31, 8:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFBarnes38 min
Aug 31, 8:57 PM CDTTornado WarningBISStutsman33 min
Aug 31, 9:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISKidder69 min
Aug 31, 9:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBurleigh47 min
Aug 31, 9:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFEddy28 min
Aug 31, 9:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISLogan, Stutsman44 min
Aug 31, 10:00 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFBarnes30 min

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 207 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, Bismarck Municip, ND at 12:00Z on 1997-08-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2 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, Bismarck Municip, ND at 12:00Z on 1997-08-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 284 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
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-416 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1991 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
284 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
333 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.5

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 North Dakota, 1997Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 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.