Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 248, NWS Grand Forks, ND
NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 25, 1998, 11:40 PM CDT for Otter Tail County, Wadena County, Minnesota. It was in force for 45 min. 15 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
- Sep 25, 1998, 11:40 PM CDT (04:40 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 26, 1998, 12:25 AM CDT
- In force
- 45 min
- Issued by
- NWS Grand Forks, ND
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Otter Tail County, MN, Wadena County, MN
The radar
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 189 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:43 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
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 25, 11:45 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 52 | Perham, MN | |
| Sep 25, 11:45 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Ottertail, MN | An 85,000 bushel grain bin was flattened against the Ottertail elevator. Another 90,000 bushel bin crumpled to the ground, and two other 45,000 bushel bins were damaged by the strong wind. Around the town, a storage shed was blown apart, a marine business wa |
| Sep 25, 11:45 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Perham, MN | Two inches of hail fell. |
| Sep 25, 11:45 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Heinola, MN | The wind tore up a trailer home, scattering the contents for a half a mile. |
| Sep 25, 11:45 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Perham, MN | The Blue Horizon Ballroom lost part of its roof due to the wind. |
| Sep 25, 11:55 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Ottertail, MN | Several trees were blown down. |
| Sep 25, 11:55 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Bluffton, MN | In the Bluffton area, 5 miles of roads had to be reopened because of downed trees. Four barns were blown over and a tree fell on two cars. |
| Sep 26, 12:00 AM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | New York Mills, MN | The strong winds hit New York Mills quite hard. 1,600 customers in the area lost power, with 50 power poles snapped in half. The city garage lost parts of its roof, as did the school gym and the school storage shed. A garage in the town was ripped in two, s |
| Sep 26, 12:01 AM CDT | Hail 1 | New York Mills, MN | Some hail was still on the ground the next morning. |
| Sep 26, 12:10 AM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Sebeka, MN | |
| Sep 26, 12:10 AM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Verndale, MN | A woman and her three children escaped without injury when their house was hit with the strong winds. Several windows shattered and part of the roof blew off. A barn, silo, machine shed, and several trees were also destroyed. |
| Sep 26, 12:10 AM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Verndale, MN | An office building and a storage shed sustained roof damage. |
| Sep 26, 12:10 AM CDT | Hail 1 | Wadena, MN | |
| Sep 26, 12:10 AM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Wadena, MN | A roof from an adjacent building blew into the display vehicles at a car dealership and twisted around them. A church also lost its bell tower. |
| Sep 26, 12:10 AM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Verndale, MN | A trailer home rolled over in the wind, injuring two of the three occupants inside. Nearby, a man was injured when a 2x4 was blown through his kitchen window, hitting him in the side. Over 10 barns in the area were severely damaged. |
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 nearest sounding before it
Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 00:00Z, 4.7 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1859 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 74 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 247 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 276 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
916 WUUS1 KFAR 260442 RRA SVRFAR MNC111-159-260525- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 1140 PM CDT FRI SEP 25 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... NORTHERN OTTER TAIL COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA WADENA COUNTY IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA * UNTIL 1225 AM CDT * AT 1140 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER PERHAM OR 20 MILES SOUTHEAST OF DETROIT LAKES. THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH. * THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR... BIG PINE LAKE BY 1145 PM NEW YORK MILLS BY 1155 PM SEBEKA BY 1205 PM REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCED WARNING. KENNEDY
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 Sep 25, 8:10 PM CDT, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Sep 25, 8:10 PM CDT, 3 hours 30 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 810 PM CDT FRI SEP 25 1998 FCST CHALLENGE TONIGHT...SHOWERS. 21Z RUC AND EARLIER MODELS SHOWED WIDESPREAD 850MB WARM ADVECTION TAKING PLACE THIS EVENING. 850 THETA-E ADVECTION ALSO IMPRESSIVE...WITH THIS AREA SLIDING NORTHEAST INTO MN OVERNIGHT. CURRENT 88D SHOWS MAIN BAND OF PCPN FROM SOUTH OF DVL EAST TO NR BJI... MOVING NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 30KT. SOME LIGHTNING STRIKES FROM TIME TO TIME AS MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES ARE MARGINALLY SUPORTIVE OF THUNDER. 12Z MODELS DID NOT INDICATE CURRENT PCPN PATTERN WELL...BUT SHOWED GENERAL FLOW AND 850 WARM ADVECTION OK. BASED ON CURRENT SATELLITE AND LATEST RUC EXPECT SHOWERS TO CONTINUE TO MOVE NORTHEAST AND GRADUALLY END OVERNIGHT. WILL NEED TO UPDATE DVL ZONE AS NO PCPN IS CURRENTLY IN FCST. 88D SHOWS PCPN KNOCKING ON BENSON COUNTY DOORSTEP SO WILL UPDATE TO ADD SCAT SHRA/TSRA TONIGHT. WILL HAVE SCT SHRA/TSRA REST OF CWFA TONIGHT. WILL CHECK OVER LOW TEMP FCST...BUT ATTM THEY APPEAR OK. WILL SEND UPDATE OUT BY 820 PM. RIDDLE
The office that day
Everything else NWS Grand Forks, ND issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 25, 10:37 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FGF | Wilkin | 33 min |
| Sep 25, 11:14 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Becker, Otter Tail | 31 min |
| Sep 26, 2:34 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Otter Tail, Wadena | 31 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.