Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 26, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 13, 1999Grand Forks County, Walsh County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 13, 1999, 11:35 PM CDT for Grand Forks County, Walsh County, North Dakota. It was in force for 30 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 13, 1999, 11:35 PM CDT (04:35 UTC)
Expired: Jul 14, 1999, 12:05 AM CDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

Counties Grand Forks County, ND, Walsh County, ND

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, 9:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 00:00Z, 4.6 hours before the alert went out and 279 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 KFAR 140436 RRA
TORFAR
NDC035-099-140505-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
1135 PM CDT TUE JUL 13 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN GRAND FORKS COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN NORTH DAKOTA
  SOUTHERN WALSH COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 1205 AM CDT

* AT 1132 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A TORNADO 28 MILES SOUTHWEST OF GRAFTON OR 10 MILES WEST OF ORR...
  MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  FORDVILLE AT 1142 PM CDT
  INKSTER AT 1151 PM CDT
  ORR   AT 1153 PM CDT

IF A BASEMENT IS NOT AVAILABLE THEN SEEK SHELTER IN AN INNERMOST
ROOM...SUCH AS A CLOSET...ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. AVOID WINDOWS AND
PROTECT YOURSELF WITH BLANKETS...PILLOWS...OR CUSHIONS.

JRB

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 13, 8:20 PM CDT, 3 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 13, 8:20 PM CDT, 3 hours 15 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
820 PM CDT TUE JUL 13 1999

RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IS DEVELOPING IN NORTHEAST
NORTH DAKOTA. UPDATE WILL FOLLOW AS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH BOX IS
EXTENDED INTO NERN ND AND EXTREME NWRD MN.

SURFACE ANALYSIS PLOTS HAVE SHOWN SURFACE MOISTURE FIELDS RESPONDING
TO APPCHG SFC TROF...WHICH EXTENDS FROM YPG TO MOT TO DIK. HIGHEST
DEWPOINTS IN NRN RRV ALSO RELATE TO HIGHEST SFC LIS...WITH CAPES
APPCHG 3500 IN EXTREME NERN ND. DEVELOPING MCS NEAR MOT WILL LIKELY
ENTER EXTREME WRN FGF ZONES IN NEXT 2 HOURS WHILE TSTMS FROM SRN
MANITOBA COULD ENTER EXTREME NERN ZONES WITHIN THE HOUR. LOWER LEVEL
WIND SHEARS THROUGH ERN ND ARE NOT AS STRONG AS WESTERN AND CNTRL ND
BUT STILL FAVORABLE FOR SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT...HAIL THE LIKELY
THREAT.

EXPECT AIRMASS TO STABILIZE SLIGHTLY AFTER DARK WITH TRANSITION TO
HEAVY RAIN INTO MN ZONES POSSIBLE. NO STRONG MID LEVEL JET EVIDENT
ON KMBX VWP THOUGH BIS SOUNDING HAS ABOUT 50KTS AT H5. BOW ECHO
DEVELOPMENT THREAT APPEARS SLIGHT...BUT WONT ENTIRELY DISCOUNT IT.
JET HAS SAGGED APPRECIABLY IN LAST 24HRS.

COORD WITH SPC.

.FGF...SVR TSTM WATCH PENDING.

GUST

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 13, 10:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Ramsey	31 min
Jul 13, 10:52 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Ramsey	33 min
Jul 13, 11:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Nelson, Walsh	33 min
Jul 13, 11:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Eddy	31 min
Jul 13, 11:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson	33 min
Jul 14, 12:30 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Walsh	35 min
Jul 14, 12:32 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Eddy	33 min
Jul 14, 12:42 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Grand Forks	33 min
Jul 14, 1:46 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Eddy	34 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.