Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 2000

Tornado Watch 683

August 12, 200018 counties in Iowa; 43 counties in Minnesota; 8 counties in Wisconsin

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Aug 12, 2000, 4:00 PM CDT for 18 counties in Iowa; 43 counties in Minnesota; 8 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Aug 12, 2000, 4:00 PM CDT (21:00 UTC)
Expired: Aug 12, 2000, 10:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 69 counties

Cerro Gordo County, IA, Chickasaw County, IA, Clay County, IA, Dickinson County, IA, Emmet County, IA, Floyd County, IA, Hancock County, IA, Howard County, IA, Kossuth County, IA, Lyon County, IA, Mitchell County, IA, O'Brien County, IA, Osceola County, IA, Palo Alto County, IA, Sioux County, IA, Winnebago County, IA, Winneshiek County, IA, Worth County, IA, Anoka County, MN, Blue Earth County, MN, Brown County, MN, Carver County, MN, Chippewa County, MN, Cottonwood County, MN, Dakota County, MN, Dodge County, MN, Faribault County, MN, Fillmore County, MN, Freeborn County, MN, Goodhue County, MN, Hennepin County, MN, Houston County, MN, Jackson County, MN, Kandiyohi County, MN, Le Sueur County, MN, Lyon County, MN, Martin County, MN, McLeod County, MN, Meeker County, MN, Mower County, MN, Murray County, MN, Nicollet County, MN, Nobles County, MN, Olmsted County, MN, Pipestone County, MN, Ramsey County, MN, Redwood County, MN, Renville County, MN, Rice County, MN, Rock County, MN, Scott County, MN, Sibley County, MN, Steele County, MN, Swift County, MN, Wabasha County, MN, Waseca County, MN, Washington County, MN, Watonwan County, MN, Winona County, MN, Wright County, MN, Yellow Medicine County, MN, Buffalo County, WI, Chippewa County, WI, Dunn County, WI, Eau Claire County, WI, Pepin County, WI, Pierce County, WI, Saint Croix County, WI, Trempealeau County, WI

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 123 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:03 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.

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 12, 8:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Faribault, Martin	51 min

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 122 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: 675 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -299 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1283 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 175 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 307 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 5.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

337 
WWUS9 KMKC 122055
SEL3  

SEL3  
MKC WW 122046
IAZ000-MNZ000-WIZ000-130300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 683
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
346 PM CDT SAT AUG 12 2000

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

   NORTHERN IOWA                               
   SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL MINNESOTA                          
   WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN                          

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 400 PM UNTIL
1000 PM CDT.

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 125 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 45 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF SPENCER IOWA TO 35 MILES
NORTH OF MINNEAPOLIS MINNESOTA.

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.

DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON IN
ZONE OF WARM ADVECTION/LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE E OF WEAK WAVE ON ERN
SD/WRN MN COLD FRONT.  SUFFICIENT DEEP-LAYER SHEAR WILL EXIST FOR
SUPERCELLS WITH HAIL/HIGH WINDS.  DEGREE OF INSTABILITY AND LOWER
TROPOSPHERIC VEERING ALSO SUGGEST THREAT FOR A COUPLE TORNADOES...
MAINLY DURING EARLY STAGES OF STORM DEVELOPMENT.

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 550. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 28025.

...CORFIDI

425,0964 452,0954 452,0903 425,0915

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 12, 1:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Kittson, Lake of the Woods, Marshall, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake and 1 more	5 hr
Aug 12, 3:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Beltrami, Clearwater, Itasca, Koochiching, Mahnomen, Norman	4 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2000 Tornado Watches in Iowa, 2000 Tornado Watches in Wisconsin, 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.