Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 182, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 20, 1998Red Lake County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 20, 1998, 2:42 PM CDT for Red Lake County, Minnesota. It was in force for 33 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
Jul 20, 1998, 2:42 PM CDT (19:42 UTC)
Expired
Jul 20, 1998, 3:15 PM CDT
In force
33 min
Issued by
NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area
Whole counties

County Red Lake County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 100 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:43 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jul 20, 2:44 PM CDTHail 0.75Red Lake Falls, 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Jul 20, 2:15 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 12:00Z, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 221 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, International Fa, MN at 12:00Z on 1998-07-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, International Fa, MN at 12:00Z on 1998-07-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 51 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1149 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
51 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
203 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.

853 
WUUS1 KFAR 201941 RRA
SVRFAR
MNC125-202015-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
242 PM CDT MON JUL 20 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  RED LAKE COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 315 PM CDT

* AT 239 PM CDT...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 3 MILES SOUTH
  OF RED LAKE FALLS OR 20 MILES SOUTH OF THIEF RIVER FALLS.  THE
  STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  TERREBOMME

REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY PRODUCE
TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCED WARNING.

SCHUMACHER

What forecasters said that day

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

NWS Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 20, 10:30 AM CDT, 4 hours 12 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 20, 10:30 AM CDT, 4 hours 12 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
1030 AM CDT MON JUL 20 1998

FIRST PERIOD DISCUSSION...STRONG SHORT WV/JET MAX MOVG THRU SRN MAN.
WND SHFT IN WRN ND OR FM JUST W OF BIS TO THE N CNTRL PART OF THE
STATE. GOOD WAA OCCURRING IN ERN ND WITH ADAP SHOWING GOOD PRES
FALLS AND SFC MSTR FLUX CONVERGENCE. LI`S AND CAPE UNSTABLE AND
PRECIP WATERS HIGH E OF WND SHFT. PROGS SHOW MORE STABLE AIR
TO MOV INTO ERN ND THIS AFTN BUT STILL UNSTABLE ACRS NW MN.
88D SHOWING STRMS IN NRN CNTYS MOVG E 45KTS. WL CHECK OVR
ZONES.

HOPPES

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 20, 10:25 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFKittson50 min
Jul 20, 1:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFPolk32 min
Jul 20, 2:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFLake of the Woods34 min
Jul 20, 2:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFPennington, Polk50 min
Jul 20, 3:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFPolk47 min
Jul 20, 3:10 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFNorman35 min
Jul 20, 3:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFRed Lake32 min
Jul 20, 3:28 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFPolk32 min
Jul 20, 3:31 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFMahnomen34 min
Jul 20, 3:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFClearwater31 min
Jul 20, 3:52 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFBeltrami, Lake of the Woods28 min
Jul 20, 4:01 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFMahnomen34 min
Jul 20, 4:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFBecker31 min
Jul 20, 4:18 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFClearwater32 min
Jul 20, 4:29 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFBecker31 min
Jul 20, 4:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFHubbard30 min
Jul 20, 4:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFBecker30 min
Jul 20, 5:19 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFBecker31 min
Jul 20, 5:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFHubbard33 min
Jul 20, 5:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFWadena33 min
Jul 20, 6:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFWadena34 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 1998Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.