Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 17, NWS Grand Forks, ND
NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 20, 1998, 3:31 PM CDT for Mahnomen County, Minnesota. It was in force for 34 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, 3:31 PM CDT (20:31 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 20, 1998, 4:05 PM CDT
- In force
- 34 min
- Issued by
- NWS Grand Forks, ND
- Area
- Whole counties
County Mahnomen County, MN
The radar
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 116 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:34 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 20, 3:50 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Mahnomen, MN | A tornado was picked up on video near the Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen by a parking lot security camera. |
| Jul 20, 3:55 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Mahnomen, MN | A retired farmer was looking out his back door and saw a swirling cloud come down. He headed for the basement and was not hurt. His home lost power and his house and outbuildings were damaged. Witnesses said the tornado was a high-based rope tornado. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 20, 2:15 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 233 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
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
191 WFUS1 KFAR 202033 RRA TORFAR MNC087-202105- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 331 PM CDT MON JUL 20 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... MAHNOMEN COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA * UNTIL 405 PM CDT * AT 331 PM...SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO 1 MILE NORTH OF MAHNOMEN OR 35 MILES NORTH OF DETROIT LAKES. THE STORM WAS MOVING TO THE EAST AT 30 MPH. * THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR... BEQUUILEU AT 345 PM THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDY BUILDING. SCHUMACHER &
The office that day
Everything else NWS Grand Forks, ND issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 20, 10:25 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Kittson | 50 min |
| Jul 20, 1:48 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Polk | 32 min |
| Jul 20, 2:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Lake of the Woods | 34 min |
| Jul 20, 2:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Pennington, Polk | 50 min |
| Jul 20, 2:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Red Lake | 33 min |
| Jul 20, 3:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Polk | 47 min |
| Jul 20, 3:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Norman | 35 min |
| Jul 20, 3:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Red Lake | 32 min |
| Jul 20, 3:28 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FGF | Polk | 32 min |
| Jul 20, 3:44 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Clearwater | 31 min |
| Jul 20, 3:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Beltrami, Lake of the Woods | 28 min |
| Jul 20, 4:01 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FGF | Mahnomen | 34 min |
| Jul 20, 4:14 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Becker | 31 min |
| Jul 20, 4:18 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FGF | Clearwater | 32 min |
| Jul 20, 4:29 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FGF | Becker | 31 min |
| Jul 20, 4:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Hubbard | 30 min |
| Jul 20, 4:55 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Becker | 30 min |
| Jul 20, 5:19 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FGF | Becker | 31 min |
| Jul 20, 5:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Hubbard | 33 min |
| Jul 20, 5:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Wadena | 33 min |
| Jul 20, 6:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Wadena | 34 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes 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.