Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 39, NWS Bismarck, ND

August 15, 1999LaMoure County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Aug 15, 1999, 9:00 PM CDT for LaMoure County, North Dakota. It was in force for 45 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: Aug 15, 1999, 9:00 PM CDT (02:00 UTC)
Expired: Aug 15, 1999, 9:45 PM CDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County LaMoure County, ND

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 125 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:01 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
Aug 15, 9:03 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Litchville, 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 nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 00:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 186 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: 2218 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 899 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 32 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 52 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.8
Supercell composite: 3.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

430 
WFUS53 KBIS 160203
TORBIS
NDC045-160245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
900 PM CDT SUN AUG 15 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN LAMOURE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 945 PM CDT

* AT 900 PM CDT...SKYWARN SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO WEST OF 
LITCHVILLE ABOUT 25 MILES SOUTHEAST OF JAMESTOWN...MOVING EAST AT 30 
MPH. THE TORNADO WAS JUST NORTH OF MARION.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  MARION AT 905 PM CDT
  IN RURAL AREAS OF NORTHEASTERN LAMOURE COUNTY

OBSERVERS ALSO REPORTED THIS TORNADO NEAR MONTPELIER AT 845 PM.

VERY LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS ARE ALSO EXPECTED
WITH THIS STORM.

LAT...LON 4671 9842 4644 9845 4637 9805 4664 9805

&

NNNN

JV

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 15, 7:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Kidder, Sheridan, Wells	54 min
Aug 15, 7:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Burleigh	54 min
Aug 15, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McHenry, Pierce	60 min
Aug 15, 7:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Logan, Stutsman	59 min
Aug 15, 7:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Stutsman	36 min
Aug 15, 8:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	LaMoure	55 min
Aug 15, 8:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	LaMoure, Stutsman	29 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.