Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 2, NWS La Crosse, WI

March 29, 1998Wabasha County, Minnesota

NWS La Crosse, WI issued this tornado warning at Mar 29, 1998, 4:39 PM CST for Wabasha County, Minnesota. It was in force for 51 min. 4 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Mar 29, 1998, 4:39 PM CST (22:39 UTC)
Expired: Mar 29, 1998, 5:30 PM CST
In force: 51 min
Issued by: NWS La Crosse, WI
Area: Whole counties

County Wabasha County, MN

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:39 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where
Mar 29, 4:50 PM CST	Hail 1.75	Zumbro Falls, MN
Mar 29, 5:05 PM CST	Hail 0.88	Wabasha, MN
Mar 29, 5:07 PM CST	Tornado F0	Wabasha, MN
Mar 29, 5:07 PM CST	Hail 0.75	Lake City, MN

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Mar 29, 2:00 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 125 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 551 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 160 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 251 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.

102 
WFUS1 KLSE 292240 RRA
TORLSE
MNC157-292330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI
439 PM CST SUN MAR 29 1998

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
    WABASHA COUNTY - SOUTHEASTERN MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 530 PM CST

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    ZUMBRO FALLS
    MILLVILLE
    MAZEPPA

* AT 437 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 12 MILES NORTHWEST OF ROCHESTER...JUST NORTH OF ORONOCO.
  THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL BE NEAR ZUMBRO FALLS AT 450 PM.

IF YOU ARE NEAR THIS DANGEROUS STORM...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY IN
THE LOWEST FLOOR AND INNER MOST ROOM OF A BUILDING.

SHEA

The office that day

Everything else NWS La Crosse, WI issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 29, 2:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Winona	34 min
Mar 29, 3:31 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Dodge, Mower	44 min
Mar 29, 3:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Olmsted	64 min
Mar 29, 4:13 PM CST	Tornado Warning	ARX	Dodge	47 min
Mar 29, 4:18 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Wabasha	57 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes in 1998

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.