Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 3, NWS Bismarck, ND
NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at May 13, 1998, 6:20 PM MDT for Morton County, North Dakota. It was in force for 45 min. 2 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
- May 13, 1998, 6:20 PM MDT (00:20 UTC)
- Expired
- May 13, 1998, 7:05 PM MDT
- In force
- 45 min
- Issued by
- NWS Bismarck, ND
- Area
- Whole counties
County Morton County, ND
The radar
The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 40 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:20 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 | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 13, 6:35 PM MDT | Tornado F1 | Glen Ullin, ND | The tornado damage was confined to the west side of town while downburst winds and hail affected the east side. Several buildings at the airport and golf coarse were destroyed as well as garages and grain bins. Numerous trees and power lines were downed. The |
| May 13, 7:15 PM MDT | Hail 0.75 | Mandan, ND |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 13, 5:00 PM MDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 45 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 655 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -29 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1459 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 58 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 120 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 250 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.4
- Supercell composite
- 7.3
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
521 WFUS1 KBIS 140022 RRA TORBIS NDC059-140105- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND 720 PM CDT WED MAY 13 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... WESTERN MORTON COUNTY IN CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA * UNTIL 805 PM CDT * AT 615 PM MDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 35 MILES EAST OF DICKINSON...ON STARK/MORTON COUNTY LINE... MOVING NORTHEAST 40 MPH INTO MORTON COUNTY. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR... HEBRON...620 MDT GLEN ULLEN...628 MDT MOTORISTS ALONG I-94 IN THIS AREA SHOULD SEEK SHELTER A TORNADO IS ON THE GROUND GO TO THE BASEMENT IF A BASEMENT IS NOT AVAILABLE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR WA &
The office that day
Everything else NWS Bismarck, ND issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 13, 6:51 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BIS | Oliver | 64 min |
| May 13, 7:05 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | BIS | Morton | 30 min |
| May 13, 7:31 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | BIS | Oliver | 29 min |
| May 13, 7:48 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | BIS | Burleigh | 47 min |
| May 13, 9:22 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BIS | McLean, Mercer | 48 min |
| May 14, 4:27 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | BIS | Sheridan | 43 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes 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.