Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 19, NWS Twin Cities, MN

May 18, 1998Meeker County, Wright County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1998, 6:42 PM CDT for Meeker County, Wright County, Minnesota. It was in force for 48 min. 5 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 18, 1998, 6:42 PM CDT (23:42 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 1998, 7:30 PM CDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Meeker County, MN, Wright County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 63 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:41 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 18, 6:45 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Litchfield, MN
May 18, 6:47 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Cedar Mills, MN	Hail damage to crops. Estimated hail size.
May 18, 7:02 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Kingston, MN
May 18, 7:05 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Dassel, MN
May 18, 7:09 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 56	Cokato, 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 18, 4:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 61 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: 2045 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -117 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 759 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 130 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 82 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 4.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

281 
WFUS1 KMSP 182343 RRA
TORMSP
MNC093-171-190030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
642 PM CDT MON MAY 18 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN THE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN HAS
ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  MEEKER COUNTY IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA
  WESTERN WRIGHT COUNTY IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT

* AT 640 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 10
  MILES NORTHEAST OF LITCHFIELD.  THE STORM WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT
  15 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    KINGSTON
    LITCHFIELD
    DASSEL
    KNAPP
    COKATO
    WAVERLY

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR

JMP

The office that day

Everything else NWS Twin Cities, MN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 18, 4:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Kandiyohi, Swift	64 min
May 18, 4:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Pope, Stearns	64 min
May 18, 5:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Meeker, Stearns	62 min
May 18, 5:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Meeker	58 min
May 18, 6:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Meeker	35 min
May 18, 6:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Benton, Meeker, Sherburne, Stearns, Wright	67 min
May 18, 6:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Brown, Redwood	62 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 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.