Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Bismarck, ND

July 17, 2001Kidder County, Stutsman County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 17, 2001, 5:16 PM CDT for Kidder County, Stutsman County, North Dakota. It was in force for 44 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 17, 2001, 5:16 PM CDT (22:16 UTC)
Expired: Jul 17, 2001, 6:00 PM CDT
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Kidder County, ND, Stutsman County, ND

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 107 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:20 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 17, 5:32 PM CDT	Tornado F2	Cleveland, ND	The tornado moved southeast out of Kidder county. Numerous sources reported the tornado ranged to 1/2 mile wide at times. The tornado was on the ground for 66 minutes with a total storm path of 29 miles. The tornado remained in open country flattening a total
Jul 17, 5:32 PM CDT	Hail 2.75	Pettibone, ND	The hail occurred with the same storm which produced the large tornado. The hail damaged windows and vehicles.

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 17, 2:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 103 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: 1827 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -176 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1544 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 50 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 183 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KBIS 172217
TORBIS

NDC043-093-172300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
516 PM CDT TUE JUL 17 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHEASTERN KIDDER COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA
  WESTERN STUTSMAN COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 600 PM CDT

* AT 516 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO OVER LAKE WILLIAMS...OR ABOUT 44 MILES WEST OF JAMESTOWN...
  MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  PETTIBONE AT 520 PM CDT
  WOODWORTH AT 540 PM 
  MEDINA AT 555 PM 
  CLEVELAND AT 600 PM CDT

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 700 PM CDT
TUESDAY EVENING FOR SOUTHERN NORTH DAKOTA.

LAT...LON 4726 9963 4705 9975 4675 9919 4711 9891

JV

The office that day

Everything else NWS Bismarck, ND issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 16, 8:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Ward	58 min
Jul 17, 4:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Morton	60 min
Jul 17, 4:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Kidder, Wells	64 min
Jul 17, 4:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Kidder	33 min
Jul 17, 4:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Morton	62 min
Jul 17, 5:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Wells	63 min
Jul 17, 5:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Morton	27 min
Jul 17, 5:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Stutsman	47 min
Jul 17, 6:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Stutsman	45 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 2001 Every tornado warning in 2001 Tornadoes in 2001

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.