Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 12, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 8, 2000Otter Tail County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 8, 2000, 8:41 PM CDT for Otter Tail County, Minnesota. It was in force for 29 min. 3 reports 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: Jul 8, 2000, 8:41 PM CDT (01:41 UTC)
Expired: Jul 8, 2000, 9:10 PM CDT
In force: 29 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Otter Tail County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 183 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:43 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 8, 8:45 PM CDT	Hail 3	New York Mills, MN	The hailstones damaged the steel siding on a home and barn, smashed up 2 cars, and damaged a roof.
Jul 8, 8:46 PM CDT	Hail 4.5	New York Mills, MN
Jul 8, 9:00 PM CDT	Hail 2.75	New York Mills, MN	When the hail hit the Rush Lake area, lake residents reported that the lake looked like it was boiling.

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 8, 4:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 00:00Z, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 234 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: 3971 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -17 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1312 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 126 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 167 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.5
Supercell composite: 17.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KFGF 090142
TORFAR

MNC111-090210-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND-GRAND FORKS
841 PM CDT SAT JUL 8 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN OTTER TAIL COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 910 PM CDT

* AT 838 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A TORNADO 2 MILES WEST OF NEW YORK MILLS...OR ABOUT 28 MILES 
  SOUTHEAST OF DETROIT LAKES...MOVEMENT WAS TO THE EAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  NEW YORK MILLS AT 850 PM CDT
  BLUFFTON AT 910 PM CDT

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO
ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDY BUILDING.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT SATURDAY EVENING
FOR WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA.

LAT...LON 4662 9554 4644 9556 4640 9516 4663 9519

NNNN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 8, 8:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Otter Tail	30 min
Jul 8, 8:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Wadena	31 min
Jul 8, 9:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Otter Tail	18 min
Jul 8, 9:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Wadena	29 min
Jul 8, 9:49 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FGF	Otter Tail, Wadena	4 hr
Jul 8, 10:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Otter Tail	30 min
Jul 8, 10:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Otter Tail	47 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 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.