Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Watches in 2000

Tornado Watch 546

July 6, 200027 counties in North Dakota; 4 counties in South Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 6, 2000, 6:30 PM MDT for 27 counties in North Dakota; 4 counties in South Dakota. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 6, 2000, 6:30 PM MDT (00:30 UTC)
Expired: Jul 7, 2000, 12:00 AM MDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 31 counties

Adams County, ND, Billings County, ND, Bottineau County, ND, Bowman County, ND, Burke County, ND, Burleigh County, ND, Divide County, ND, Dunn County, ND, Emmons County, ND, Golden Valley County, ND, Grant County, ND, Hettinger County, ND, McHenry County, ND, McKenzie County, ND, McLean County, ND, Mercer County, ND, Morton County, ND, Mountrail County, ND, Oliver County, ND, Pierce County, ND, Renville County, ND, Sheridan County, ND, Sioux County, ND, Slope County, ND, Stark County, ND, Ward County, ND, Williams County, ND, Campbell County, SD, Corson County, SD, Harding County, SD, Perkins County, SD

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 6, 6:34 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Hettinger	41 min
Jul 6, 6:45 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McKenzie	60 min
Jul 6, 7:01 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Williams	64 min
Jul 6, 7:09 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	UNR	Harding	21 min
Jul 6, 7:21 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Hettinger	24 min
Jul 6, 7:30 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	UNR	Perkins	45 min

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 153 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: 2179 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -34 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1212 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 89 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 409 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 3.5
Supercell composite: 29.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS9 KMKC 070026
MKC WW 070012
NDZ000-SDZ000-070600-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 546
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
612 PM MDT THU JUL 6 2000

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA                       
   NORTHWEST SOUTH DAKOTA                       

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY MORNING FROM 630 PM UNTIL
MIDNIGHT MDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 120 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 60 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF DICKINSON NORTH
DAKOTA TO 55 MILES NORTHEAST OF BISMARCK NORTH DAKOTA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND 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.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO WATCH
NUMBER 545.  WATCH NUMBER 545 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 630 PM
MDT.  CONTINUE...WW 544...

DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DEVELOPING IN WARM
ADVECTION ZONE JUST E OF LOW CONVERGENCE AXIS ALONG THE ND/MT
BORDER.  SUFFICIENT DEEP LAYER SHEAR /ON THE ORDER OF 35 KTS/ AND
INSTABILITY /CAPE TO 3500 ABOVE CAP/ PER 00Z BIS RAOB TO SUPPORT
SUPERCELLS WITH LARGE HAIL/HIGH WINDS AND POSSIBLY TORNADOES.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24035.

...CORFIDI

;453,0995 452,1035 485,1035 490,0995;

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 6, 8:00 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Benson, Cavalier, Eddy, Foster, Grand Forks, Griggs and 9 more	6 hr
Jul 7, 11:00 AM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Traill	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Dakota, 2000 Tornado Watches in South Dakota, 2000 Every tornado 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.