Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2000

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 296

May 17, 200018 counties in Minnesota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 17, 2000, 1:15 PM CDT for 18 counties in Minnesota. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 17, 2000, 1:15 PM CDT (18:15 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 2000, 6:00 PM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Blue Earth County, MN, Brown County, MN, Dodge County, MN, Faribault County, MN, Fillmore County, MN, Freeborn County, MN, Goodhue County, MN, Le Sueur County, MN, Martin County, MN, Mower County, MN, Nicollet County, MN, Olmsted County, MN, Rice County, MN, Sibley County, MN, Steele County, MN, Wabasha County, MN, Waseca County, MN, Watonwan County, MN

Warnings issued inside it

3 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 1:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Le Sueur	62 min
May 17, 1:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Blue Earth	39 min
May 17, 2:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Rice	48 min

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 6.3 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 994 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 87 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 134 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.

380 
WWUS9 KMKC 171756
SEL6  
MKC WW 171756
MNZ000-172300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 296
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1256 PM CDT WED MAY 17 2000

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MINNESOTA                          

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 115 PM UNTIL
600 PM CDT.

HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 60
MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 40 STATUTE MILES
NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES NORTHWEST OF FAIRMONT
MINNESOTA TO 25 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF ROCHESTER MINNESOTA.

REMEMBER...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE
FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.


DISCUSSION...SMALL CLUSTER OF SEVERE STORMS EXPECTED TO MOVE EWD 20
KT ALONG NRN EDGE OF STEEP LAPSE RATES AND ELEVATED INSTABILITY. 
BOUNDARY LIFTING NWD ALONG MN/IA BORDER MAY ENHANCE CONVECTIVE
POTENTIAL DURING THE AFTERNOON.  


AVIATION...A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT
TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 50
KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 450.  MEAN STORM
MOTION VECTOR 25025.


...WEISS

443,0945 443,0920 432,0920 432,0945

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Minnesota, 2000 Every severe thunderstorm watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.