Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 40, NWS Bismarck, ND

August 22, 1999Dickey County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Aug 22, 1999, 6:33 PM CDT for Dickey County, North Dakota. It was in force for 27 min. 2 reports 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 22, 1999, 6:33 PM CDT (23:33 UTC)
Expired: Aug 22, 1999, 7:00 PM CDT
In force: 27 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Dickey County, ND

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 80 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:37 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 22, 6:35 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Merricourt, ND
Aug 22, 6:40 PM CDT	Hail 2.75	Merricourt, 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
Aug 22, 5:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 141 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: 437 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -112 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1158 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 24 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.

489 
WFUS53 KBIS 222334 RRA
TORBIS
NDC021-230000-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
633 PM CDT SUN AUG 22 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  DICKEY COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 700 PM CDT

* AT 633 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED   
  A POSSIBLE TORNADO 4 MILES SOUTHWEST OF MERRICOURT...OR ABOUT 52   
  MILES SOUTH OF JAMESTOWN...MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  MERRICOURT AT 635 PM CDT
  MONANGO AT 650 PM CDT
  
LAT...LON 4626 9883 4609 9890 4597 9840 4618 9830
RSL
NNNN

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 Aug 22, 3:40 PM CDT, 2 hours 53 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 22, 3:40 PM CDT, 2 hours 53 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
340 PM CDT SUN AUG 22 1999

SURFACE COLD FRONT NOW IN CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA FROM JUST EAST OF
MINOT TO JUST EAST OF HETTINGER.  THE FRONT SHOULD PASS BISMARCK
WITHIN THE NEXT FEW HOURS.  DEWPOINTS EAST OF THE FRONT ARE IN THE
60S AND MODELS INDICATE THE CAPE SHOULD BE ABOVE 2000. THUNDERSTORMS
SHOULD GENERATE ALONG THE FRONT THIS EVENING. AN AREA OF LOW CLOUDS
CAN BE SEEN ROTATING IN CENTRAL ALBERTA ALIGNED WITH THE CORE OF
COLD AIR AND UPPER LEVEL SHORT WAVE THAT IS MOVING ACROSS THE
PLAINS.  THE CLOUDS AND COOLER AIR SHOULD MOVE ACROSS THE STATE LATE
TONIGHT AND MONDAY...FOLLOWED BY RIDGING AND A RETURN OF WARMER AIR.
FOR NOW HAVE INCLUDED A CHANCE OF SHOWERS NORTH CENTRAL
TONIGHT...BUT WILL LET NEXT FORECASTER DECIDE WHETHER TO ADD SHOWERS
TO CENTRAL ND ON MONDAYS FORECAST.

.BIS...NONE
TSW

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 21, 7:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Burke, Ward	28 min
Aug 22, 4:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	LaMoure, Stutsman	49 min
Aug 22, 5:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	LaMoure	35 min
Aug 22, 6:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Dickey	64 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.