Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 191, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 20, 1998Becker County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 20, 1998, 4:14 PM CDT for Becker County, Minnesota. It was in force for 31 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
Jul 20, 1998, 4:14 PM CDT (21:14 UTC)
Expired
Jul 20, 1998, 4:45 PM CDT
In force
31 min
Issued by
NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area
Whole counties

County Becker County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 141 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:14 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, 4:30 PM CDTTornado F0Ogema, MN
Jul 20, 4:45 PM CDTHail 1Ponsford, 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, 9.2 hours before the alert went out and 254 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.

526 
WUUS1 KFAR 202113 RRA
SVRFAR
MNC005-202145-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN BECKER COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 445 PM CDT

* AT 410 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ALONG THE MAHNOMEN/BECKER COUNTY LINES NEAR
  OGEMA OR 25 MILES NORTH OF DETROIT LAKES. MOVEMENT WAS SOUTHEAST AT
  20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  WHITE EARTH AT 420 PM CDT
  STRAWBERRY LAKE AT 430 PM CDT

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

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, 3:00 PM CDT, 1 hour 14 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 20, 3:00 PM CDT, 1 hour 14 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
300 PM CDT MON JUL 20 1998

FIRST PERIOD DISCUSSION...ADAP SHOWING GOOD MSTR FLUX CONVERENGCE
FM TVF TO SARGENT CNTY ND. LIS WERE ALSO QUITE LOW AND THE
CAP WAS WEAKEST IN THE SAME AREA. UPR LVL JET MOVG ALNG THE
INTERNATIONAL BDR WITH STRMS LIKELY TO FIRE IN RFQ AS WARM MOIST
AIR GETS LIFTED UNDER JET INDUCED SUBSIDENCE. STRMS FIRING UP ARND
TVF. STLT SHOWING A LINE OF ENHANCED CU FM TVF TO DICKEY CNTY ND.
WATER VAPOR LOOP ALSO HAS HIR MID LVL MSTR MOVG IN. SHOULD SEE STRMS
DEVELOP ALONG MOIST/DRY INTERFACE AND ALONG SFC FNT. WNDS HAVE
BECM NW W SFC CU LINE ON STLT. XPC STRMS TO DEVELOP ALNG FNTL BNDRY
AND ESPECIALLY WHERE FNTL BNDRY WOULD INTERSECT MOIST/DRY INTERFACE.
CLRG SHOULD FOLLOW STRMS ACTIVITY TNGT XCP ALNG INTERNATIONAL BDR
WHERE MORE CLDS ARE XPCD. AS FAR AS TEMPS MOS SEEMS A LITTLE WARM
WITH DWPNTS IN THE UPR 40S IN WRN ND HOWEVER UPR 50S DWPNTS
WERE IN SRN MAN. TEMPS SHOUD BE WARMER ALNG THE NRN BDR WITH
HIR DWPNTS AND CLDS BY MORN...COOLER IN THE S. THINK LOWS WL BE
IN THE MID 50S IN FAR, FFM, DTL, PKD...AND UPR 50S GFK, FSE,
BJI, DVL...ARND 60 IN HCO, ROX, BDE.

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, 2:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFRed Lake33 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, 4:18 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.