Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 9, NWS Bismarck, ND

May 17, 1998Renville County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at May 17, 1998, 5:24 PM CDT for Renville County, North Dakota. It was in force for 46 min. 1 report 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 17, 1998, 5:24 PM CDT (22:24 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 1998, 6:10 PM CDT
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Renville County, ND

The radar

The Minot AFB radar (KMBX), 69 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:24 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 17, 6:20 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Glenburn, ND	Brief touch down as seen from the Minot Air Force Base.

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 17, 4:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 228 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: 95 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -466 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1493 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 194 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 221 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

211 
WFUS1 KBIS 172227 RRA
TORBIS
NDC075-172310-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
524 PM CDT SUN MAY 17 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN RENVILLE COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 610 PM CDT

* AT 523 PM CDT...AREA LAW ENFORCEMENT INDICATED A TORNADO 30 MILES
  NORTHWEST OF MINOT...OR 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF GRANO...MOVING
  NORTHEAST AT 10 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  GRANO AND NORMA THROUGH 545 PM CDT

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

JP MARTIN


&

The office that day

Everything else NWS Bismarck, ND issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 4:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Ward	50 min
May 17, 5:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Ward	32 min
May 17, 6:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Ward	63 min
May 17, 6:14 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Bottineau, Renville	61 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 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.