Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Bismarck, ND

June 12, 2000Billings County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Jun 12, 2000, 4:47 PM MDT for Billings County, North Dakota. It was in force for 43 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Jun 12, 2000, 4:47 PM MDT (22:47 UTC)
Expired: Jun 12, 2000, 5:30 PM MDT
In force: 43 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Billings County, ND

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 212 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:50 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
Jun 12, 5:25 PM MDT	Tornado F0	Fairfield, ND	Tornado traveled in open country.

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 nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 216 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: 80 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -312 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1408 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 60 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 99 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

951 
WFUS53 KBIS 122249
TORBIS
NDC007-122330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
447 PM MDT MON JUN 12 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHWESTERN BILLINGS COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 530 PM MDT

* AT 447 PM MDT...SKYWARN SPOTTERS REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD NEAR   
  MEDORA...OR ABOUT 39 MILES WEST OF DICKINSON...MOVING   
  NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  MEDORA AT 455 PM MDT
 

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED
BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW
SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A
WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS
AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING IN AN
INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. USE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO
COVER YOUR BODY AND ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

LAT...LON 4704 10373 4685 10354 4699 10326 4729 10334

RSL

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 11, 6:13 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Burleigh, McLean	32 min
Jun 11, 6:26 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Mercer, Oliver	64 min
Jun 11, 6:48 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Bottineau, McHenry, Pierce	27 min
Jun 11, 6:48 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Rolette	27 min
Jun 11, 7:14 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McLean, Sheridan	61 min
Jun 11, 9:23 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Mercer, Oliver	67 min
Jun 12, 4:26 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Billings, Golden Valley	49 min
Jun 12, 5:31 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Billings	29 min
Jun 12, 5:50 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McKenzie	60 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 2000 Every tornado warning in 2000 Tornadoes in 2000

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.