Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 20, NWS Sioux Falls, SD

May 30, 1998Hanson County, South Dakota

NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued this tornado warning at May 30, 1998, 8:12 PM CDT for Hanson County, South Dakota. It was in force for 33 min. 4 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: May 30, 1998, 8:12 PM CDT (01:12 UTC)
Expired: May 30, 1998, 8:45 PM CDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Sioux Falls, SD
Area: Whole counties

County Hanson County, SD

The radar

The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:05 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 30, 8:15 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Riverside, SD
May 30, 8:16 PM CDT	Tornado F2	Fulton, SD
May 30, 8:26 PM CDT	Tornado F3	Farmer, SD	A large and strengthening tornado destroyed buildings and other property on five farms and also destroyed trees and power lines before crossing the eastern edge of Hanson County.
May 30, 8:55 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Alexandria, SD

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

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 1.2 hours before the alert went out and 145 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: 1585 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -49 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1033 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 67 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 144 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.4
Supercell composite: 7.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KFSD 310112 RRA
TORFSD
SDC061-310145-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
812 PM CDT SAT MAY 30 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SIOUX FALLS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN HANSON COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 845 PM CDT

* AT 809 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A TORNADO 8 MILES NORTHEAST OF MITCHELL  OR 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF
  FULTON MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  FARMER                   AROUND 820 PM CDT

AT 810 PM A TORNADO WAS REPORTED ON THE GROUND NEAR FULTON MOVING
EAST.



IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED
BUILDING.  AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR
LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

&

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at May 30, 9:52 AM CDT, 10 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 30, 9:52 AM CDT, 10 hours 20 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR SOUTHEAST SD/SOUTHWEST MN/NORTHWEST IA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
952 AM CDT SAT MAY 30 1998

WL UPDATE ZONES TO GET RID OF WATCH. WSR-88D AT FSD SHOWS TSTMS STILL
STG VCNTY NEBRASKA BRDR E OF YKN INTO NW IA. MAY NEED TO REEVALUATE HI
TEMPS THIS AFTN BASED ON RAIN COOLING.

.FSD...NONE

BLOOM

The office that day

Everything else NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 30, 7:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Beadle	32 min
May 30, 7:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Sanborn	30 min
May 30, 7:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Davison, Hanson	31 min
May 30, 8:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Miner	31 min
May 30, 8:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FSD	McCook	33 min
May 30, 8:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FSD	Hanson	35 min
May 30, 9:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FSD	McCook	36 min
May 30, 9:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Lake, Moody	31 min
May 30, 9:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FSD	Minnehaha	50 min
May 30, 9:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FSD	Turner	32 min
May 30, 9:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Lincoln	32 min
May 30, 9:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FSD	Lincoln	24 min
May 30, 10:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Lincoln	32 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Dakota, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.