Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 1999
Tornado Warning 45, NWS Grand Forks, ND
NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Aug 22, 1999, 7:12 PM CDT for Cass County, North Dakota. It was in force for 33 min. 2 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
- Aug 22, 1999, 7:12 PM CDT (00:12 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 22, 1999, 7:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 33 min
- Issued by
- NWS Grand Forks, ND
- Area
- Whole counties
County Cass County, ND
The radar
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 66 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 22, 7:30 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Mapleton, ND | The wind rolled a pickup and a horse trailer off highway 18. One of the four occupants inside suffered minor glass cuts climbing out of the pickup. |
| Aug 22, 7:40 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Casselton, ND | A brief tornado touchdown was reported by the public. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 22, 5:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 243 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
- 821 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -45 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2079 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 41 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 101 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 172 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 3.9
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KFAR 230013 RRA TORFAR NDC017-230045- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 712 PM CDT SUN AUG 22 1999 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... WESTERN CASS COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN NORTH DAKOTA * UNTIL 745 PM CDT * AT 711 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 26 MILES EAST OF VALLEY CITY OR 6 MILES SOUTHWEST OF WHEATLAND... MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH. * THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR... WHEATLAND AT 720 PM CDT CASSELTON AT 734 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. KENNED`Y
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 Aug 22, 3:30 PM CDT, 3 hours 42 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 22, 3:30 PM CDT, 3 hours 42 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 330 PM CDT SUN AUG 22 1999 SHORT WV OVR SASK FCST TO MOV INTO LONG WAVE TROF OVR GRTLKS AND OH VLY. WATER VAPOR LOOP SHOWING UPR LOW/CD POOL OVR S CNTRL SASK. ETA AND NGM QUITE SIMILAR IN MOVG VORT MAX TO NW IL BY 48 HRS. H7 AND H8 UPR AIR FLOW FEATURES ALSO SIMILAR. HOWEVER H8 WAA FM THE NGM SEEMS OVER DONE WHILE ETA H8 THERMAL FIELD ORIENTATION MORE E-W. WL COMPROMISE WITH A TONED DOWN NGM. THINK MOST ACTIVE WX TNGT WILL OCCUR OVR SW 2/3 OF CWFA IN LFQ OF JET AND NR VORT MAX. MOST STABLE AIR MOVS FM SW CAN INTO SD TNGT AND INTO KS AND MO BY 12Z TUE. BIS MORN SNDG HAS COOLED A LITTLE ABV H7 AND WARMED BLO OVNGT. 88D SHOWING WAA PRECIP OVR NRN RED RVR VLY MOVG E. PRECIP IS ALSO IN A H7 TROF. AREA 88D VAD WNDS HAVE CAA PROFILE AT KGGW, NUETRAL AT KMBX, AND WAA AT KBIS. CLDS AND SOME SHWRS ARE XPCD TO REMAIN ON MON WITH CD POOL ALF AND WRAP ARND TO AFFECT THE AREA. WINDIER MONDAY UNDER N FLOW. COOR WITH ABR. .EXTENDED... NEW AVN/CANADIAN CONTINUE TREND TO FILL AND LIFT CUTOFF LOW MOISTURE AND ENERGY OUT OF THE PACNW AND THROUGH THE NRN PLAINS DURING THE EXTENDED PERIOD. MODEL INCONSISTENCY LEAVES SOME DOUBT AS TO TIMING AND INTENSITY OF SHTWVS AS 12Z RUNS HAVE DELAYED DAY2 WAVE BY 12HRS ADDING A POSSIBILITY OF ISOLD TSTMS ALG THE CANADIAN BORDER LATE TUES. SHORT RANGE MODELS ARE MORE AGGRESSIVE ON SECOND WAVE PULLING OUT OF ERN OR AT 48HRS...LEAVING MRF TIMING SUSPECT. HOWEVER...WILL STICK WITH DRY PERIOD DAY3 FOLLOWED BY CHC TSTMS DAY4 AS PER PREVIOUS PACKAGE. ECMWF ALSO AGREES WITH AVN/CANADIAN IN SHIFTING ENERGY FROM FIRST WAVE INTO SECOND...WITH WAVE TIMING EARLIER ON DAY4. ECMWF ALSO LESS AMPLIFIED THAN MRF BY DAY5. SYNOPTICS AND TRENDS WOULD SUGGEST THAT COLD PUSH FOLLOWING SECOND WAVE WOULD LEAD TO COOLER TEMPS AND SHOWERS DAY5 FOR MUCH OF CWFA. .FGF...NONE. HOPPES/GUST
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Aug 22, 3:45 PM CDT, 3 hours 27 minutes before
MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024- 026>030-038-039-049-052-053-222330- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 345 PM CDT SUN AUG 22 1999 ...THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... SYNOPSIS...A VIGOROUS UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE INTO THE NORTHERN PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON PUSHING A COLD FRONT INTO THE REGION. AHEAD OF THE FRONT...A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS IS FORECAST TO REMAIN IN PLACE OVER EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. AS THE FRONT MOVES CLOSER...THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA THIS AFTERNOON. THESE STORMS ARE FORECAST TO BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD BY LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS THEY MOVE INTO NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. AREA OF CONCERN...EXTREME NORTHWEST MINNESOTA THIS AFTERNOON. ALL OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA THROUGH LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. TIME...345 PM TO MIDNIGHT. TYPE OF HAZARD...LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. GUST
Special weather statement, Aug 22, 3:45 PM CDT, 3 hours 27 minutes before
MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024- 026>030-038-039-049-052-053-222330- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 345 PM CDT SUN AUG 22 1999 ...THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... SYNOPSIS...A VIGOROUS UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE INTO THE NORTHERN PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON PUSHING A COLD FRONT INTO THE REGION. AHEAD OF THE FRONT...A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS IS FORECAST TO REMAIN IN PLACE OVER EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. AS THE FRONT MOVES CLOSER...THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA THIS AFTERNOON. THESE STORMS ARE FORECAST TO BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD BY LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS THEY MOVE INTO NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. AREA OF CONCERN...EXTREME NORTHWEST MINNESOTA THIS AFTERNOON. ALL OF EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA THROUGH LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. TIME...345 PM TO MIDNIGHT. TYPE OF HAZARD...LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. GUST
The office that day
Everything else NWS Grand Forks, ND issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 22, 10:51 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Richland | 34 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.