Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1999
Tornado Warning 38, NWS Grand Forks, ND
NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 27, 1999, 4:27 PM CDT for Ransom County, Richland County, North Dakota. It was in force for 33 min. 7 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 27, 1999, 4:27 PM CDT (21:27 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 27, 1999, 5:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 33 min
- Issued by
- NWS Grand Forks, ND
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Ransom County, ND, Richland County, ND
The radar
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 130 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:27 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 27, 4:30 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 52 | Wyndmere, ND | |
| Jul 27, 4:35 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 52 | Lisbon, ND | Large trees were blown down. |
| Jul 27, 5:00 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 72 | Mc Leod, ND | |
| Jul 27, 5:00 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 67 | Wyndmere, ND | |
| Jul 27, 5:00 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Wyndmere, ND | |
| Jul 27, 5:00 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 52 | Wyndmere, ND | Trees were blown down. |
| Jul 27, 5:00 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Wyndmere, ND | Trees were blown down in Wyndmere and some siding on a church was torn off. |
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 27, 2:30 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 183 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 3 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -442 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1364 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 37 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 121 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 155 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KFAR 272127 TORFAR NDC073-077-272200- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 427 PM CDT TUE JUL 27 1999 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... EASTERN RANSOM COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH DAKOTA RICHLAND COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH DAKOTA * UNTIL 500 PM CDT * AT 426 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 38 MILES WEST OF WAHPETON OR 3 MILES NORTHWEST OF MCLEOD... MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR... MCLEOD AT 435 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. SOROKA
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 27, 2:15 PM CDT, 2 hours 12 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 27, 2:15 PM CDT, 2 hours 12 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 215 PM CDT WED JUL 27 1999 FCST CHALLENGE: SVR THREAT IN NW FLOW REGIME...TNGT AND TMRW NGT. MODEL SELECTION: ETA INCOMPLETE. NGM/ETA FAIR ON UPR FEATURES AND INITIALIZING WELL ON WEAK VORT IN SERN SASK. LOW LEVEL MOISTURE FIELDS ARE SOMEWHAT WEAK...12Z RUC WAS BETTER. WILL USE NGM PRIMARILY. NEAR TERM: MODELS WEAK ON HANDLING MOISTURE/INSTABILITY SURGE AHEAD OF SFC TROF...NOW ENTERING ERN ND. 18Z ABR SOUNDING SHOWS CAPE VALUES AROUND 4K WHILE ETA HAS AXIS OF 3-4K BAND BACK IN CNTRL SD. SFC DEWPTS APCHG 70 IN SERN ND WITH CONVECTION FIRING NEAR JMS. LOW LEVEL SHEAR PROFILES SHOW GOOD VEERING BLO H7. H5 ANALYSIS HAD SEMBLANCE OF WEAK COUPLED JET OVR FGF CWFA BETWEEN NRN AND SRN BRANCH FLOW. 50KTS AT H5 GENERALLY SUPPORTING GOOD DIVERGENCE ALOFT. WILL COORD WITH SPC ON LATE AFTERNOON SVR TSTM WATCH AREA. FAN TEMPS LOOK REASONABLE AS DEWPTS SHOULD STAY UP A BIT. MID TERM: PATTERN REPEATS ON WEDNESDAY...WITH WEAK SFC BOUNDARY PUSHING INTO ERN ND AT MAX HEATING AND WK UPR WAVE IN NW FLOW PATTERN. WILL STICK WITH WDLY SCT AFTERNOON TSTMS ND ZONES. PM TSTMS IN MN ZONES. EXTENDED: LONG RANGE MODELS SIMILAR IN THEIR HANDLING OF THE REDEVELOPMENT OF HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE OVER THE UPPER MIDWEST THROUGH THE EXTENDED FORECAST PERIOD. IN GENERAL...UPPER LEVEL RIDGE REMAINS OVER MT AND WRN ND AREA WITH UPPER LEVEL LOW MOVING SOUTH FROM CANADA INTO GREAT LAKES AREA. ONLY CHANCE FOR PCPN APPEARS ON SATURDAY NIGHT AS FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH LOW MOVES THROUGH THE CWFA. CWFA THEN REMAINS BETWEEN THESE SYSTEMS FOR REST OF EXTENDED FORECAST PERIOD. WITH THE MAJORITY OF CWFA ON COLD SIDE OF RIDGE...EXPECT TEMPS TO HOLD AROUND NORMALS. .FGF...TOR WATCH #591 UNTIL 7PM CDT...PORTIONS OF ERN ND AND NW MN. GUST/GODON
In the hours before
Local storm report, Jul 27, 10:55 AM CDT, 5 hours 32 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA/GRAND FORKS
115 PM CDT MON JUL 26 1999...CORRECTION TO TIME AT ULEN
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1100 AM 2 NE POLAND ND .75 INCH HAIL
07/25/99 WALSH
0210 PM 1 W ULEN MN WIND DAMAGE
07/25/99 CLAY THREE INCH DIAMTER TREE
BRANCHES DOWN
0212 PM ULEN MN WIND DAMAGE
07/25/99 CLAY SEVERAL TREES DOWN IN TOWNSpecial weather statement, Jul 27, 12:48 PM CDT, 3 hours 39 minutes before
AMD MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024- 026>030-038-039-049-052-053-271910- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 1248 PM CDT TUE JUL 27 1999 ...SEVERE STORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS EXTREME EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING... SYNOPSIS...WARM...MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR WILL CONTINUE TO WORK NORTHWARD ACROSS EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. AT THE SAME TIME A STRONG UPPER-LEVEL JET STREAM AND SURFACE TROUGH WILL WORK INTO EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA. ALL OF THESE COMBINED WILL PRODUCE SUFFICIENT LIFT AND INSTABILITY TO PRODUCE AREAS OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THERE WILL ALSO BE ENOUGH WIND SHEAR THAT A FEW TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE WITH THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS. AREA OF CONCERN...A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER IS FORECAST SOUTH AND EAST OF A LINE FROM FORT RANSOM TO GRANDIN AND EAST TO BEMIDJI. A SLIGHT RISK IS EXPECTED EAST OF A LINE FROM COOPERSTOWN TO HALLOCK MINNESOTA. TIME...START AFTER 2 PM AND SHOULD MOVE OUT OF THE AREA TOWARDS MIDNIGHT. TYPE OF HAZARD...MAINLY LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. HOWEVER A FEW TORNADOES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. PERSONS SHOULD STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...LOCAL RADIO AND TELEVISION FOR FURTHER FORECASTS AND POSSIBLE WATCHES LATER THIS AFTERNOON.
Special weather statement, Jul 27, 3:58 PM CDT, 29 minutes before
MNZ001>003-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ027-029-030-038-039- 049-052-053-280055- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 358 PM CDT TUE JUL 27 1999 ...A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM CDT... A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING FOR MUCH OF SOUTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA AND PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA. THIS WATCH EXTENDS SOUTH FROM A LARIMORE TO THIEF RIVER FALLS AND LOWER RED LAKE LINE. NUMEROUS REPORTS OF GOLFBALL TO BASEBALL SIZED HAIL HAVE BEEN RECEIVED ALONG A LINE OF STORMS FROM ADA SOUTHWESTWARD TO ARTHUR AND ENDERLIN. THESE STORMS ARE GENERALLY MOVING EAST BUT DEVELOPM>ENT TO THE NORTHEAST IS EXPECTED. THESE STORMS MAY PRODUCE TORNADOS. THE PUBLIC SHOULD STAY TUNED TO WEATHER RADIO OR LOCAL MEDIA FOR FURTHER WARNINGS OR ADVISORIES. GUST
The office that day
Everything else NWS Grand Forks, ND issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 27, 2:07 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Barnes | 33 min |
| Jul 27, 2:34 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Cass | 36 min |
| Jul 27, 2:49 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Barnes | 31 min |
| Jul 27, 3:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Cass | 35 min |
| Jul 27, 3:12 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Cass | 33 min |
| Jul 27, 3:19 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Barnes, Ransom | 36 min |
| Jul 27, 3:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Cass | 29 min |
| Jul 27, 3:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Ransom | 36 min |
| Jul 27, 4:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Richland | 35 min |
| Jul 27, 4:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Cass | 32 min |
| Jul 27, 4:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FGF | Richland | 35 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 1999Every tornado warning in 1999Tornadoes 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.