Alert archive / South Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Rapid City, SD

July 4, 2000Meade County, South Dakota

NWS Rapid City, SD issued this tornado warning at Jul 4, 2000, 8:38 PM MDT for Meade County, South Dakota. It was in force for 22 min. 2 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 4, 2000, 8:38 PM MDT (02:38 UTC)
Expired: Jul 4, 2000, 9:00 PM MDT
In force: 22 min
Issued by: NWS Rapid City, SD
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Meade County, SD

The radar

The Rapid City radar (KUDX), 70 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:39 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 4, 8:40 PM MDT	Hail 2.5	Fairpt, SD
Jul 4, 8:40 PM MDT	Thunderstorm Wind 69 E	Fairpt, SD

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 4, 8:15 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Rapid City, SD (KUNR), launched 00:00Z, 2.6 hours before the alert went out and 77 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: 1724 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -73 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1327 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 57 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 61 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 187 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.1
Supercell composite: 13.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KUNR 050241 COR
TORRAP

SDC093-050300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
838 PM MDT TUE JUL 4 2000

CORRECTED COUNTY IN LAST PARAGRAPH

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN RAPID CITY SD HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CENTRAL MEADE COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 900 PM MDT

* AT 834 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM 3 MILES WEST OF FAIRPOINT...OR ABOUT 40 MILES
  NORTHEAST OF STURGIS...MOVING EAST-SOUTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  FAIRPOINT AROUND 840 PM MDT
  STONEVILLE AROUND 845 PM MDT
  RED OWL AROUND 850 PM MDT

MOVE QUICKLY TO A STURDY INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR
HOME OR BUSINESS. ABANDON YOUR CAR OR MOBILE HOME FOR A STRONGER
SHELTER.

THIS WARNING IS IN ADDITION TO THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING 
PREVIOUSLY ISSUED FOR CENTRAL MEADE COUNTY	.

LAT...LON 4486 10290 4468 10296 4460 10252 4477 10245

BUNKERS

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Rapid City, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jul 4, 1:30 PM MDT, 7 hours 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 4, 1:30 PM MDT, 7 hours 8 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
130 PM MDT TUE JUL 4 2000

CURRENT SURFACE MAP SHOWS TROF OVER EASTERN PART OF CWA. A FEW
THUNDERSTORMS HAVE TRIED TO DEVELOP ALONG TROF...AND OVER BLACK
HILLS...BY SMALL CAP HOLDING THINGS BACK AT THE MOMENT. WEAK
SHORTWAVE LIFTING THROUGH SOUTHEAST WYOMING ON TRACK TO MOVE INTO
SOUTHERN PART OF CWA NEXT FEW HOURS. WITH CONVERGANCE ALONG TROF AND
APPROACHING SHORTWAVE...EXPECTED THUNDERSTORMS TO GET GOING THIS
AFTERNOON. 12Z ETA SHOWS UPPER LEVEL DIVERGANCE INCREASING OVER THIS
AREA BY 00Z. THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE EAST-SOUTHEAST OUT OF CWA THIS
EVENING. ANOTHER MCS FORECAST TO MOVE ACROSS MONTANA INTO NORTH
DAKOTA...AND BY BRUSH FAR NORTHWEST.

FOR WEDNESDAY...WINDS TURN SOUTHELY ACROSS THE CWA...WITH UNSTABLE
AIRMASS STILL IN PLACE. AGAIN...MODELS INDICATING AN MCS TO MOVE
ACROSS MONTANA INTO NORTH DAKOTA...AND OVER SOUTH CENTRAL SOUTH
DAKOTA.

BY THURSDAY...MID LEVEL TEMPERTURES WARM 3-5C...WITH 700MB
TEMPERATURE GREATER THAN 16C OVER NORTHEAST WYOMING/SOUTHWEST SOUTH
DAKOTA. BEST CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE OVER NORTHWEST. STILL
LEFT ISOLATED POPS IN FOR THURSDAY ACROSS SOUTHWEST...AS UPPER LEVEL
JET SHIFTS SOUTH OVER THE AREA.

IN THE EXTENDED...HOT TEMPERATURES IN STORE AS UPPER LEVEL RIDGE
TAKES HOLD OVER THE AREA AND MID LEVEL TEMPERATURES REMAIN VERY WARM.

p.UNR...NONE.
KC

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 4, 8:13 PM MDT, 25 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
813 PM MDT TUE JUL 04 2000

TIME(MDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0536 PM    18 N RECLUSE              WY   1.75 INCH HAIL
07/04/00   CAMPBELL                       REPORTED BY STORM
                                          SPOTTER SIX MILES SOUTH
                                          OF MT STATE LINE.

0545 PM    10 W ROCKYPOINT           WY   2.5 INCH HAIL
07/04/00   CAMPBELL                       8 S OF MT STATE LINE ON
                                          HWY 59. REPORTED BY
                                          STORM SPOTTER.

0550 PM    LIGHTNING FLAT            WY   1 INCH HAIL
07/04/00   CROOK                          REPORTED BY STORM
                                          SPOTTER.

0753 PM    CASTLE ROCK               SD   1.75 INCH HAIL
07/04/00   BUTTE                          REPORTED BY STORM
                                          SPOTTER. HAIL FELL FROM
                                          753 PM MDT UNTIL 803 PM
                                          MDT.

N

The office that day

Everything else NWS Rapid City, SD issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 4, 7:02 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	UNR	Butte	58 min
Jul 4, 7:57 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	UNR	Butte	48 min
Jul 4, 8:30 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	UNR	Meade	60 min
Jul 4, 8:58 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	UNR	Meade	32 min
Jul 4, 9:28 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	UNR	Meade	17 min
Jul 4, 9:38 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	UNR	Haakon, Ziebach	67 min
Jul 5, 3:10 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	UNR	Lawrence	50 min
Jul 5, 3:58 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	UNR	Lawrence	47 min
Jul 5, 4:43 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	UNR	Lawrence	47 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in South Dakota, 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.