Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 29, NWS Bismarck, ND

July 13, 1999McHenry County, Ward County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 13, 1999, 8:38 PM CDT for McHenry County, Ward County, North Dakota. It was in force for 37 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: Jul 13, 1999, 8:38 PM CDT (01:38 UTC)
Expired: Jul 13, 1999, 9:15 PM CDT
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties McHenry County, ND, Ward County, ND

The radar

The Minot AFB radar (KMBX), 51 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:40 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jul 13, 4:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 00:00Z, 1.6 hours before the alert went out and 131 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: 2357 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -36 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1627 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 129 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 3.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KBIS 140142 RRA
TORBIS
NDC049-101-140215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
838 PM CDT TUE JUL 13 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  MCHENRY COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA
  WARD COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 915 PM CDT

* AT 838 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 14 MILES WEST OF VOLTAIRE...OR ABOUT 19 MILES SOUTH OF
  MINOT...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  VOLTAIRE AT 840 PM CDT
  BENEDICT AT 900 PM CDT


DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO. CARS ARE EASILY 
TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS. IF YOU ARZE CAUGHT IN THE PARTH OF A 
TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING. IF NO STRUCTURE 
IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT. 

LAT...LON 4807 10081 4786 10135 4785 10098 4785 10075

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 Jul 13, 3:30 PM CDT, 5 hours 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 13, 3:30 PM CDT, 5 hours 8 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
330 PM CDT TUE JUL 13 1999

A SHORT WAVE WILL MOVE ACROSS SOUTHERN CANADA TONIGHT.  SATELLITE
SHOWS A BAND OF CLOUD FROM HVR IN NORTH CENTRAL MONTANA INTO CENTRAL
MANITOBA.  CONVECTION IS OCCURING NORTHEAST OF GLASCOW NEAR ROCK
GLEN IN SASKATCHEWAN AND WILL LIKELY MOVE EAST SOUTHEAST INTO
NORTHWEST ND THIS EVENING.  TEMPS IN THE WEST HAVE PUSHED INTO THE
LOWER 90S WITH DEWPOINTS IN THE 50S WHILE IN CENTRAL ND TEMPS REMAIN
IN THE 80S BUT WITH DEWPOINTS MAINLY IN THE 60S.  UNSTABLE AIRMASS
IS CAPPED...ESPECIALLY IN SOUTH CENTRAL ND WHERE TEMPS HAVE TO
EXCEED 90 TO BREAK CAP. WOULD EXPECT MAIN ACTIVITY IN THE WEST EARLY
MOVING INTO CNTRL ND THIS EVENING AS MID LEVEL COOLING OCCURS. SOME
TSTORMS LIKELY SEVERE AS CAPE WILL BE IN EXCESS OF 1500. THE MODELS
NOW HOLD BACK ON MOVING SURFACE LOW OUT OF AREA TO THURSDAY...WITH
WEDNESDAY WARMER THAN PREVIOUS MODELS HAD INDICATED.  WILL CONTINUE
TO LOOK FOR A CHANCE OF TSTMS DEVELOPING IN THE AFTERNOON AND CONT
INTO THE NIGHT WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY.

.BIS...NONE.
TSW

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 13, 5:47 PM CDT, 2 hours 51 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  WILLISTON ND
547 PM CDT TUE JUL 13 1999

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0525 PM    7 N NOONAN                ND   0.90 INCH HAIL
07/13/99   DIVIDE                         REPORTED BY PORT OF ENTRY
                                          UNITED STATES CUSTOMS
                                          OFFICIAL.

HISSUNG

Local storm report, Jul 13, 5:47 PM CDT, 2 hours 51 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  WILLISTON ND
547 PM CDT TUE JUL 13 1999

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0525 PM    7 N NOONAN                ND   0.90 INCH HAIL
07/13/99   DIVIDE                         REPORTED BY PORT OF ENTRY
                                          UNITED STATES CUSTOMS
                                          OFFICIAL.

HISSUNG

Local storm report, Jul 13, 5:58 PM CDT, 2 hours 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
558 PM CDT TUE JUL 13 1999

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0540 PM    COLUMBUS                  ND   1.75 INCH HAIL
07/13/99   BURKE                          REPORTED BY FIRE DEPT

NOAH

Local storm report, Jul 13, 5:58 PM CDT, 2 hours 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
558 PM CDT TUE JUL 13 1999

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0540 PM    COLUMBUS                  ND   1.75 INCH HAIL
07/13/99   BURKE                          REPORTED BY FIRE DEPT

NOAH

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 13, 7:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Renville	57 min
Jul 13, 7:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Ward	30 min
Jul 13, 7:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Ward	30 min
Jul 13, 8:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McHenry	60 min
Jul 13, 8:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Ward	58 min
Jul 13, 9:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McLean, Sheridan	58 min
Jul 13, 9:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McHenry, Pierce	60 min
Jul 13, 9:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Wells	62 min
Jul 13, 10:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Ward	62 min
Jul 13, 10:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Pierce	50 min
Jul 13, 11:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Pierce, Wells	60 min
Jul 14, 12:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Foster	60 min
Jul 14, 1:07 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Wells	68 min
Jul 14, 1:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Foster	60 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.