Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1999

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 13, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 9, 1999Richland County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 9, 1999, 6:39 PM CDT for Richland County, North Dakota. It was in force for 31 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
May 9, 1999, 6:39 PM CDT (23:39 UTC)
Expired
May 9, 1999, 7:10 PM CDT
In force
31 min
Issued by
NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area
Whole counties

County Richland County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 143 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:39 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 9, 6:45 PM CDTHail 0.75Lidgerwood, 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

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 189 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 1999-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 1999-05-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 46 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
890 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
46 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
302 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.

999 
WUUS1 KFAR 092340 RRA
SVRFAR
NDC077-100010-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
639 PM CDT SUN MAY 9 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHWESTERN RICHLAND COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 710 PM CDT

* AT 637 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 38 MILES SOUTHWEST OF WAHPETON OR 11 MILES
  SOUTH OF LIDGERWOOD... MOVING NORTH AT 45 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  LIDGERWOOD AT 651 PM CDT
  WYNDMERE AT 708 PM CDT

REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY PRODUCE
TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCED WARNING.

RA

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 9, 2:30 PM CDT, 4 hours 9 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 9, 2:30 PM CDT, 4 hours 9 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
230 PM CDT SUN MAY 9 1999

...FORECAST CONCERNS...HEAVY RAIN AND TSRA POTENTIAL...

.CURRENT SYNOPTIC OVERVIEW...
SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM TAKING SHAPE IN NORTHEAST
COLORADO...WITH INVERTED TROUGH EXTENDING INTO CENTRAL MONTANA. 5H
RIDGE OVER CWA...WITH H7 WAA AND UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE FEEDING SHOWER
AND TSRA ACTIVITY IN CWA.

.SHORT TERM...
MODELS DIFFER WITH TIMING OF PRECIP AS ETA BRINGS IT INTO CWA THE
FASTEST. WILL GO WITH THE ETA AS IT WAS THE ONLY MODEL TO PICK UP THE
CURRENT PRECIPITATION. LOW LEVEL JET OF 50 KT TO SURGE H850 WARMFRONT
NORTHWARD INTO CWA AFTER 6Z. MOISTURE TRANSPORT ALSO IMPRESSIVE FROM
H850 TO H7...ESPECIALLY AFTER 6Z FROM RRV WEST. WITH THETA E RIDGE OVER
RRV SPELL GOOD BOUT OF ELEVATED CONVECTIVE RAINS TONIGHT. WEAK SHORTWAVE
AT H5 WILL ALSO ADD MORE LIFT TO MOISTURE LADEN ATMOSPHERE AS
PRECIPITABLE WATERS FROM 1 TO 1.2 INCHES PROGGED TO COVER CWA BY 12Z
MONDAY. THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL THERE AS WELL WITH 850 DEWPOINTS
REACHING +10 C FROM GFK SOUTH BY 12Z. A FEW RENEGADE SEVERE CELLS CAN/T
BE RULED OUT IN SOUTH WITH RAPIDLY SURGING H850 WARMFRONT...850-500 LI/S
OF -1...AND K INDEX/S OF 32.

.LONG TERM...BEST MOISTURE TRANPORT SHIFTS WEST OF RRV MONDAY/MONDAY
NIGHT AS SURFACE LOW SLOWLY MOVES NORTHEASTWARD. INVERTED TROUGH AT
SURFACE WILL BE OVER RRV ON MONDAY...ALONG WITH AMPLE MOISTURE WILL
SPELL ANOTHER WET DAY. CONVECTION SHOULD BECOME MORE SURFACE BASED
MONDAY AS THE SOUTHERN CWA GETS INTO WARM SECTOR WITH LI/S OF -2...AND
CAPE/S AROUND 1000 J/KG NEAR FAR. UPPER LOW TO CLOSE OFF OVER NODAK BY
TUESDAY MORNING...WITH OCCLUDED FRONT NEAR RRV AND DEEP CYCLONIC FLOW
WILL SPELL INSTABILITY TYPE SHOWERS.

.EXTENDED...
REMAINDER OF MEDIUM RANGE MODELS HAVE COME INTO AGREEMENT WITH
YESTERDAYS CANADIAN GLOBAL AS NEGATIVE PHASE OF PNA AND POSITIVE NAO
PERSIST THROUGH PERIOD. WEST-SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT AHEAD OF WESTERN
TROUGH SUGGESTS UNSETTLED PATTERN WITH PERIODIC BOUTS OF SHOWERS AND
PERHAPS SOME EMBEDDED CONVECTION ESPECIALLY IN THE SOUTH.

.FGF...NONE.

KELLENBENZ/BERG

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 9, 2:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFBarnes32 min
May 9, 5:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFSargent33 min
May 9, 5:51 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFSargent34 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Dakota, 1999Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.