Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 17, NWS Bismarck, ND

June 13, 1999McKenzie County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Jun 13, 1999, 3:15 PM CDT for McKenzie County, North Dakota. It was in force for 35 min. No storm report in the archive falls 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.

The facts

Issued: Jun 13, 1999, 3:15 PM CDT (20:15 UTC)
Expired: Jun 13, 1999, 3:50 PM CDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County McKenzie County, ND

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 210 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: 17 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -94 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1277 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -15 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -3 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.

362 
WFUS1 KBIS 132018 RRA
TORBIS
NDC053-132050-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILLISTON ND
ISSUED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
315 PM CDT SUN JUN 13 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN MCKENZIE COUNTY IN NORTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 350 PM CDT

* AT 315 PM CDT...SKYWARN SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO 6 MILES
  NORTH OF KEENE...JUST WEST OF CHARLSON...OR ABOUT 32 MILES EAST
  OF WILLISTON...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  KEENE AT 325 PM CDT

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.

LAT...LON 4801 10294 4802 10318 4770 10296 4779 10262

&

JP MARTIN

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 13, 3:35 AM CDT, 11 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 13, 3:35 AM CDT, 11 hours 40 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
335 AM CDT SUN JUN 13 1999

ETA HAS DONE A REASONABLE JOB OF LATE AND WAS FOLLOWED FOR DETAILS.
WEAK SHOWERS TRIGGERED BY VORT MAX EXPECTED TO FADE BY MID MORNING
AS MAIN SHORT WAVE IN SASK/MANT TAKES OVER BY AFTERNOON. WITH H3 JET
MOVING SOUTHEAST FROM ALBERTA...SUFFICIENT DYNAMICS AVAILABLE AND
WITH NEARLY 500 MODEL CAPE FORECAST...SHOULD SE SCT TSRA THIS
AFTERNOON. WILL MENTION EVENING TSRA IN JMS...OTHERWISE STRONG
SUBSIDENCE BEHIND SHORTWAVE SHOULD BRING CLEARING TO THE REGION
TONIGHT ALTHOUGH SOME JET STREAM CLOUDINESS MAY BE PRESENT. WITH
SURFACE HIGH OVER THE STATE MONDAY...WILL SEE COOLER TEMPS AND
PARTLY SUNNY SKIES. EXTENDED STILL LOOKS GOOD FOR THUNDERSTORMS
SOUTH.

.BIS...NONE.
ABELING

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 13, 3:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Oliver	22 min
Jun 13, 3:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Morton	51 min
Jun 13, 4:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McKenzie	31 min
Jun 13, 4:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Morton	48 min
Jun 13, 4:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Dunn	46 min
Jun 13, 5:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Sioux	56 min
Jun 13, 5:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Sioux	33 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.