Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 1998

Tornado Watch 759

July 20, 199827 counties in Minnesota; Richland County, Traill County, North Dakota; 5 counties in Wisconsin

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 20, 1998, 2:15 PM CDT for 27 counties in Minnesota; Richland County, Traill County, North Dakota; 5 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 20, 1998, 2:15 PM CDT (19:15 UTC)
Expired
Jul 20, 1998, 8:00 PM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 34 counties

Aitkin County, MN, Becker County, MN, Beltrami County, MN, Carlton County, MN, Cass County, MN, Clay County, MN, Clearwater County, MN, Crow Wing County, MN, Hubbard County, MN, Itasca County, MN, Kanabec County, MN, Koochiching County, MN, Lake County, MN, Mahnomen County, MN, Marshall County, MN, Mille Lacs County, MN, Morrison County, MN, Norman County, MN, Otter Tail County, MN, Pennington County, MN, Pine County, MN, Polk County, MN, Red Lake County, MN, Saint Louis County, MN, Todd County, MN, Wadena County, MN, Wilkin County, MN, Richland County, ND, Traill County, ND, Bayfield County, WI, Burnett County, WI, Douglas County, WI, Sawyer County, WI, Washburn County, WI

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 199 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:18 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.

Warnings issued inside it

30 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 20, 2:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFPennington, Polk50 min
Jul 20, 2:27 PM CDTTornado WarningDLHItasca53 min
Jul 20, 2:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFRed Lake33 min
Jul 20, 3:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFPolk47 min
Jul 20, 3:10 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFNorman35 min
Jul 20, 3:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFRed Lake32 min
Jul 20, 3:28 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFPolk32 min
Jul 20, 3:31 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFMahnomen34 min
Jul 20, 3:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFRansom, Richland33 min
Jul 20, 3:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFClearwater31 min
Jul 20, 3:52 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFBeltrami, Lake of the Woods28 min
Jul 20, 4:01 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFMahnomen34 min
Jul 20, 4:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFRichland32 min
Jul 20, 4:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFBecker31 min
Jul 20, 4:18 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFClearwater32 min
Jul 20, 4:29 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFBecker31 min
Jul 20, 4:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFRichland33 min
Jul 20, 4:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFHubbard30 min
Jul 20, 4:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFBecker30 min
Jul 20, 5:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFRichland33 min
Jul 20, 5:19 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFBecker31 min
Jul 20, 5:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFHubbard33 min
Jul 20, 5:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFWadena33 min
Jul 20, 5:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDLHCass65 min
Jul 20, 6:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFWadena34 min
Jul 20, 6:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDLHCrow Wing59 min
Jul 20, 6:49 PM CDTTornado WarningDLHCrow Wing46 min
Jul 20, 6:55 PM CDTTornado WarningDLHAitkin60 min
Jul 20, 7:27 PM CDTTornado WarningDLHCrow Wing48 min
Jul 20, 7:53 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDLHAitkin62 min

The nearest sounding before it

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 12:00Z, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 158 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, International Fa, MN at 12:00Z on 1998-07-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, International Fa, MN at 12:00Z on 1998-07-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 51 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 20, 4:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCFillmore, Houston, Olmsted, Winona5 hr
Jul 20, 5:45 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAnoka, Benton, Big Stone, Brown, Carver, Chippewa and 34 more5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 1998Tornado Watches in Wisconsin, 1998Tornado Watches in North Dakota, 1998Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.