Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 19, NWS Twin Cities, MN

July 30, 1999Benton County, Stearns County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this tornado warning at Jul 30, 1999, 2:55 PM CDT for Benton County, Stearns County, Minnesota. 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 30, 1999, 2:55 PM CDT (19:55 UTC)
Expired: Jul 30, 1999, 3:30 PM CDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Whole counties

Counties Benton County, MN, Stearns County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 104 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:59 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 30, 2:55 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Rice, MN
Jul 30, 2:56 PM CDT	Hail 1.5	Holdingford, MN
Jul 30, 3:00 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Rice, MN	Large branches down. Estimated windspeed.
Jul 30, 3:29 PM CDT	Hail 0.88	St Joseph, MN

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 30, 2:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 102 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: 4710 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -123 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1115 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 54 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMPX 301958
TORMSP
MNC009-145-302030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
255 PM CDT FRI JUL 30 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN THE TWIN CITIES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN BENTON COUNTY IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA
  EASTERN STEARNS COUNTY IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 330 PM CDT

* AT 255 PM CDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO 3 MILES EAST OF HOLDINGFORD...OR ABOUT 16 MILES
  NORTHWEST OF ST CLOUD...MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...
  ST STEPHEN
  RICE
  HOLDINGFORD

THIS TORNADO WARNING REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING WHZICH
WAS IN EFFECT FOR THE SAME AREA.

IN ADDITION TO THE TORNADO...DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE LIKELY
IN THE WARNED AREA.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Twin Cities, MN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 30, 2:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Pope, Stearns	50 min
Jul 30, 2:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Swift	44 min
Jul 30, 2:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Benton, Morrison	43 min
Jul 30, 2:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Mille Lacs	38 min
Jul 30, 2:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Stearns	37 min
Jul 30, 2:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Lac qui Parle, Yellow Medicine	52 min
Jul 30, 3:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Mille Lacs, Morrison	45 min
Jul 30, 3:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Stearns	41 min
Jul 30, 3:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Kanabec	31 min
Jul 30, 3:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Swift	58 min
Jul 30, 3:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Lac qui Parle, Yellow Medicine	45 min
Jul 30, 3:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Benton, Stearns	39 min
Jul 30, 3:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Mille Lacs, Morrison	30 min
Jul 30, 3:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Kanabec	30 min
Jul 30, 3:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Sherburne	66 min
Jul 30, 4:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Renville	47 min
Jul 30, 4:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Kanabec, Mille Lacs	47 min
Jul 30, 4:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Benton	47 min
Jul 30, 4:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Meeker, Wright	47 min
Jul 30, 4:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Anoka, Hennepin	62 min
Jul 30, 4:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Isanti	62 min
Jul 30, 4:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Kanabec	61 min
Jul 30, 4:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Carver	61 min
Jul 30, 5:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	McLeod, Renville, Sibley	53 min
Jul 30, 5:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Chisago	56 min
Jul 30, 5:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Sibley	31 min
Jul 30, 6:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Scott	25 min
Jul 30, 6:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Carver	34 min
Jul 30, 6:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Scott	35 min
Jul 30, 6:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Dakota	49 min
Jul 30, 6:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Freeborn	43 min
Jul 30, 6:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Goodhue	47 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 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.