Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 19, NWS Grand Forks, ND
NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 20, 1998, 4:18 PM CDT for Clearwater County, Minnesota. It was in force for 32 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, 4:18 PM CDT (21:18 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 20, 1998, 4:50 PM CDT
- In force
- 32 min
- Issued by
- NWS Grand Forks, ND
- Area
- Whole counties
County Clearwater County, MN
The radar
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 146 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:19 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, 4:45 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Zerkel, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 20, 2:15 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 190 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.
547 WFUS1 KFAR 202117 RRA TORFAR MNC029-202150- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 418 PM CDT MON JUL 20 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... SOUTHERN CLEARWATER COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA * UNTIL 450 PM CDT * AT 415 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADIC SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES WEST OF ZERKEL OR 30 MILES WEST OF BEMIDJI. MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 30 MPH. * THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR... ZERKEL AT 425 PM CDT THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDY BUILDING. EWENS
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, 3:31 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FGF | Mahnomen | 34 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, 4:29 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.