Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 38, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 27, 1998Marshall County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 27, 1998, 8:39 PM CDT for Marshall County, Minnesota. 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 27, 1998, 8:39 PM CDT (01:39 UTC)
Expired: May 27, 1998, 9:25 PM CDT
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Marshall County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 117 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:38 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 27, 8:55 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Argyle, 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 27, 8:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 00:00Z, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 227 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: 11 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1951 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 18 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 37 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.

000 
TTAA00 KFAR 280139 RRA
SVRFAR
MNC089-280225-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
839 PM CDT WED MAY 27 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  MARSHALL COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 925 PM CDT

* AT 837 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES
  WEST OF ARGYLE OR 30 MILES NORTH OF GRAND FORKS MOVING EAST AT 20
  MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  ARGYLE AT 855 PM

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

GSF

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 May 27, 2:15 PM CDT, 6 hours 24 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 27, 2:15 PM CDT, 6 hours 24 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
215 PM CDT WED MAY 27 1998

SFC LOW PRES AND DRY LN/TROF APRCHG CWFA ATTM.  ADAP SHOWS INCR MSTR
CONVERGENCE ALG DRY LN/TROF. CAPES LATE THIS AFTN AND EVENING FROM
2000-2500 J/KG WITH SFC DWPNTS RISING INTO THE LWR 60S.  WND PRFLS SUGG
A SVR WX CONCERN WITH THESE TSRMS MAINLY SVR WND AND HAIL SPCLY WITH
WBZ BLO 10KFT. GENERALLY THE RGNL HODOGRAPH IS STRAIGHT LN WITH SOME
DISPLAY OF LOW LVL VEERING INVOF TROF. NEARLY ALL OF THE STG SHEAR IS
BLO 2KM. BRN HINTS AT MULTICELL ENVIRONMENT AS WELL SO BOW ECHO PSBL.
SVR WX IS MOST PROBABLE W OF A LN FROM ROX TO FFM. TSTMS MOVG E OF THIS
AREA SHOULD BE AFT 04Z WHICH MAY CUT SVR PROBABILITY UNLESS CONVECTION
STAYS ORGANIZED.

MDLS SHOW A QUICKLY STABILIZING ENVIRONMENT AFT 06Z ACRS CWFA AS DRIER
AIRMASS ADVECTS INTO RGN FROM MT.  TSTMS SHOULD END BY THEN XCP ACRS
NCNTRL MN INVOF OF SFC LOW PRES.  MOS TEMPS LOOK GD.  LWR TO MID 50S IN
ERN NODAK AND MID TO UPR 50S IN NWRN MN.

 BELLES

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 27, 8:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Marshall	32 min
May 27, 11:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Norman	37 min
May 27, 11:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Mahnomen	34 min
May 28, 3:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Marshall	48 min
May 28, 3:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Pennington	31 min
May 28, 4:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Marshall	32 min
May 28, 5:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Kittson	34 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 1998 Every 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.