Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 27, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 14, 1999Walsh County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 14, 1999, 12:30 AM CDT for Walsh County, North Dakota. It was in force for 35 min. 4 reports 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 14, 1999, 12:30 AM CDT (05:30 UTC)
Expired: Jul 14, 1999, 1:05 AM CDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Walsh County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:33 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 14, 12:40 AM CDT	Hail 1.75	Ardoch, ND
Jul 14, 12:40 AM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Ardoch, ND	An estimated 500 trees were destroyed by the wind and 2 barns were damaged.
Jul 14, 12:50 AM CDT	Hail 1	Ardoch, ND
Jul 14, 12:55 AM CDT	Tornado F0	Ardoch, 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 13, 9:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 00:00Z, 5.5 hours before the alert went out and 286 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.

122 
WFUS1 KFAR 140531 RRA
TORFAR
NDC099-140605-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
1230 AM CDT WED JUL 14 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN WALSH COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 105 AM CDT

* AT 1229 AM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A TORNADO 11 MILES SOUTH OF GRAFTON OR 3 MILES NORTHWEST OF
  ARDOCH... MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  MINTO AND ARDOCH AT 1235 AM CDT
  WARSAW AT 1239 AM CDT

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO THE SAFEST PLACE IS A BASEMENT.
GET UNDER A STAIRWAY OR A PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.

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, 4 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 13, 8:20 PM CDT, 4 hours 10 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, 11:35 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Grand Forks, Walsh	30 min
Jul 13, 11:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson	33 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.