Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 22, NWS Duluth, MN

May 18, 1998Itasca County, Koochiching County, Minnesota

NWS Duluth, MN issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1998, 5:51 PM CDT for Itasca County, Koochiching County, Minnesota. It was in force for 44 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 18, 1998, 5:51 PM CDT (22:51 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 1998, 6:35 PM CDT
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Duluth, MN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Itasca County, MN, Koochiching County, MN

The radar

The Duluth radar (KDLH), 162 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:51 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 18, 5:55 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Wirt, 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
May 18, 5:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 83 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: 102 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -426 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1148 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 34 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 54 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDLH 182251 RRA
TORDLH
MNC061-071-182335-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
551 PM CDT MON MAY 18 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DULUTH HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN ITASCA COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA
  SOUTHERN KOOCHICHING COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 635 PM CDT

* AT 545 PM CDT ...AREA LAW ENFORCEMENT INDICATED A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO  45 MILES NORTHWEST OF GRAND RAPIDS...NEAR ALVWOOD....
  MOVING EAST A 20 MPH AND DULUTH DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO 50 MILES SOUTHWEST OF INTERNATIONAL FALLS
  NEAR WILDWOOD.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  WIRT BY 605 PM
  BIG FORK AND EFFIE BY 620 PM
  CRAIGVILLE BY 625 PM

IF YOU ARE IN A MULTIPLE STORY BUILDING...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR
ROOM AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

WJC/DAP

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Duluth, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at May 18, 1:30 PM CDT, 4 hours 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 18, 1:30 PM CDT, 4 hours 21 minutes before

AREA FORECST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
130 PM CDT MON MAY 18 1998

MAIN FOCUS FOR TNGT IS THUNDERSTORM CHC.

COLD FRONT CURRENTLY IN WESTERN MINNESOTA AND PRETTY MUCH ON TRACK
WITH ETA. NO THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED YET ALONG FRONT...HOWEVER
WITH AIRMASS VERY UNSTABLE AHEAD OF FRONT...AM STILL EXPECTING SCT
DEVELOPMENT MAINLY ALONG FRONT. NO REAL UPPER AIR DYNAMICS UNTIL
WELL AFT FROPA...BUT HOPEFULLY THE LOW LVL MOISTURE AND UNSTABLE
CONDITIONS WILL MAKE UP FOR THAT.

FRONT MOVES OUT OF MOST OF NE MN BY LATE EVENING...AND INTO NW WI
EARLY THIS EVENING THEN OUT OF MOST OF NW WI BY 2AM. THETA-E RIDGE NOSES
UP TO DLH BY 00Z AND THEN MOVES EAST OF CWA AROUND MIDNIGHT. WOULD
IMAGINE THAT MOST OF ACTION IN CWA WILL THEN BE OVER AROUND OR
WITHIN A COUPLE HOURS OF MIDNIGHT.

SO FOR NOW...WILL GO WITH A 30/40 PERCENT CHC OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS FOR NE MN THIS EVENING...EARLY EVENING FOR PLACES SUCH
AS INL AND BRD...AND THROUGH MIDNIGHT FOR NW WI. DRY AIR BEHIND
FRONT BUT SOME PVA AS WELL...SO WILL GO PARTLY CLOUDY AFTER FROPA.

NGM A LITTLE COOLER THAN TNGT THAN ETA. TAKING INTO ACCOUNT EXPECTED
DEW POINTS AND A LIITLE BIT OF WIND...WILL LEAN MORE TOWARD ETA. SO
GENERALLY MID TO UPPER 50S FROM EC MN TO NW WI...AND 50 TO 55 ACROSS
REST OF NE MN.

TAP

The office that day

Everything else NWS Duluth, MN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 18, 5:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DLH	Koochiching	60 min
May 18, 5:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DLH	Itasca	59 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.