Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 20, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 12, 1999Traill County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 12, 1999, 9:18 PM CDT for Traill County, North Dakota. It was in force for 32 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: Jul 12, 1999, 9:18 PM CDT (02:18 UTC)
Expired: Jul 12, 1999, 9:50 PM CDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Traill County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 15 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:19 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
Jul 12, 9:18 PM CDT	Hail 0.88	Buxton, 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
Jul 12, 8:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 00:00Z, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 278 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: 1355 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -48 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2177 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 76 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 116 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFAR 130218 RRA
TORFAR
NDC097-130250-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
918 PM CDT MON JUL 12 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN TRAILL COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 950 PM CDT

* AT 916 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A TORNADO 27 MILES SOUTH OF GRAND FORKS OR 8 MILES NORTHWEST OF
  CALEDONIA... MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  CUMMINGS AT 925 PM CDT
  CALEDONIA AT 938 PM CDT

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO
ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDY BUILDING.

GRIFFIS

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 Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jul 12, 7:50 PM CDT, 1 hour 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 12, 7:50 PM CDT, 1 hour 28 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
750 PM CDT MON JUL 12 1999

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH COORDINATED WITH SPS. MULTIPLE SUPERCELLS NOR
DROPPING SEWD INTO NORTHEAST ND...INTO VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS WITH CAPES
APPCHG 4K AND LIS MINUS 8 TO MINUS 10 IN NRN PORTIONS OF THE RRV WHERE
DEWPTS ARE HOVERING AROUND 70 DEGREES. SFC TROF SAGGING INTO AREA HAS
BEEN GOOD FOCUS POINT AND CONVECTION LIKELY TO SAG SOUTH AND THEN PUSH
ACROSS EWD.

.FGF...SVR TSTM WATCH NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
UNTIL 1AM CDT.

GUST

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 12, 8:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cavalier, Towner	48 min
Jul 12, 8:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cavalier	32 min
Jul 12, 9:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Ramsey, Walsh	34 min
Jul 12, 9:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Ramsey, Walsh	34 min
Jul 12, 10:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Nelson	32 min
Jul 12, 10:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Nelson	33 min
Jul 12, 11:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Grand Forks	36 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.