Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Twin Cities, MN

May 7, 2000Meeker County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this tornado warning at May 7, 2000, 9:44 PM CDT for Meeker County, Minnesota. It was in force for 31 min. 3 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: May 7, 2000, 9:44 PM CDT (02:44 UTC)
Expired: May 7, 2000, 10:15 PM CDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Whole counties

County Meeker County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 82 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:47 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
May 7, 9:50 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 75 E	Grove City, MN	Downburst winds created swath of destruction to include several barns, sheds, and trees blown down.Swath of winds was 3 miles long and two miles wide.
May 7, 9:55 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Cosmos, MN	Barn toppled.
May 7, 10:10 PM CDT	Hail 0.88	Litchfield, 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
May 7, 9:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 00:00Z, 2.7 hours before the alert went out and 79 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: 998 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -22 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1468 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 73 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 212 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.5
Supercell composite: 6.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KMPX 080244
TORMSP
MNC093-080315-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
944 PM CDT SUN MAY 7 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN THE TWIN CITIES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  MEEKER COUNTY IN CENTRAL MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 1015 PM CDT

* AT 944 PM CDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  POSSIBLE TORNADO 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF GROVE CITY...OR ABOUT 11
  MILES WEST OF LITCHFIELD...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...
  LITCHFIELD
  GROVE CITY
  EDEN VALLEY
  CROW RIVER
  MANNANAH

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLO?OR!

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
May 7, 7:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Yellow Medicine	27 min
May 7, 7:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, Yellow Medicine	46 min
May 7, 8:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Renville	50 min
May 7, 9:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Kandiyohi	37 min
May 7, 9:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Meeker	48 min
May 7, 10:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Isanti, Mille Lacs	48 min
May 7, 10:14 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Meeker, Stearns	46 min
May 7, 10:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Wright	60 min
May 7, 10:33 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Wright	57 min
May 7, 10:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Benton, Sherburne	47 min
May 7, 11:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Stearns	51 min
May 8, 1:08 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Carver, Sibley	52 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.