Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Bismarck, ND

June 3, 1999Grant County, Morton County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Jun 3, 1999, 2:25 PM MDT for Grant County, Morton County, North Dakota. It was in force for 35 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Jun 3, 1999, 2:25 PM MDT (20:25 UTC)
Expired: Jun 3, 1999, 3:00 PM MDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Grant County, ND, Morton County, ND

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 53 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:28 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
Jun 3, 2:42 PM MDT	Hail 1.25	Shields, ND

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
Jun 3, 2:00 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 56 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 897 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -20 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -163 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

435 
WFUS1 KBIS 032028 RRA
TORBIS
NDC037-059-032100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
225 PM MDT THU JUN 3 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN MORTON COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA
  EASTERN GRANT COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 300 PM MDT(400 PM CDT)

* AT 225 PM MDT(325 PM CDT)...A TORNADO WAS REPORTED 9 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF SHIELDS...OR ABOUT 51 MILES SOUTHWEST OF BISMARCK...
  MOVING NORTH AT 55 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  SHIELDS AT 225 PM MDT
  RALEIGH AT 235 PM MDT
  FLASHER AT 240 PM MDT

THIS REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING PREVIOUSLY ISSUED FOR
THE WARNED AREA.

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A
WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS
AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING...IN AN
INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. USE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO
COVER YOUR BODY AND ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

IF IN MOBILE HOMES OR VEHICLES...EVACUATE THEM AND GET INSIDE A
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE
NEAREST DITCH OR OTHER LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

LAT...LON 4618 10139 4614 10114 4673 10087 4679 10119

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 Bismarck, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jun 3, 2:00 PM MDT, 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 3, 2:00 PM MDT, 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
300 PM CDT THU JUN 3 1999

ZONES HAVE ALREADY BEEN RELEASED AS SPC HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH
FOR MOST OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL ND UNTIL 040100Z (8 PM CDT). LINE OF
DEEP MOIST CONVECTION FORMING ON DEW POINT BOUDARY IN SW ND...DEWS IN
THE LOWER 60S EAST OF LINE AND IN THE 30S-50S JUST WEST OF IT. CAPES
IN WATCH AREA ARE AROUND 2500 J/KG WITH SATELLITE DERIVED LIFTED
INDICES IN THE -3 TO -6 RANGE. THANKS TO LF AT ISN FOR POINTING OUT
HEAVY RAIN POTENTIAL...K INDEX FORECAST TO BE AROUND 38 THIS
EVENING. ADDED HEAVY RAIN TO ZONES.

SYSTEM MOVES NORTHEAST LATE TONIGHT BUT A SECONDARY LOBE OF
VORTICITY PUSHES INTO ISN AREA FRIDAY AFTERNOON. ADDED SMALL POPS TO
AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. EXTENDED LOOKS STORMY SATURDAY NIGHT-
SUNDAY. LESS CHANCES OF STORMS FOR MONDAY.

.BIS...NONE.

JP MARTIN

The office that day

Everything else NWS Bismarck, ND issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 3, 1:22 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Mountrail	63 min
Jun 3, 2:07 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Grant, Sioux	38 min
Jun 3, 2:41 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Divide	64 min
Jun 3, 2:57 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Morton, Sioux	33 min
Jun 3, 3:05 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Mercer, Morton, Oliver	40 min
Jun 3, 3:33 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Burleigh, Emmons, Morton, Sioux	57 min
Jun 3, 3:52 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McLean, Oliver	38 min
Jun 3, 4:14 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Burleigh, Emmons	31 min
Jun 3, 4:23 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McLean	52 min
Jun 3, 4:40 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	McLean	35 min
Jun 3, 4:47 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Burleigh, Kidder	28 min
Jun 3, 5:11 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Kidder	34 min
Jun 3, 5:19 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McHenry, McLean	56 min
Jun 3, 5:44 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Kidder, Stutsman	31 min
Jun 3, 5:50 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	McHenry, Pierce	25 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 1999 Every tornado warning in 1999 Tornadoes in 1999

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.