Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2001

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 19, NWS Duluth, MN

May 15, 2001Cass County, Minnesota

NWS Duluth, MN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 15, 2001, 4:30 PM CDT for Cass County, Minnesota. It was in force for 60 min. 3 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
May 15, 2001, 4:30 PM CDT (21:30 UTC)
Expired
May 15, 2001, 5:30 PM CDT
In force
60 min
Issued by
NWS Duluth, MN
Area
Whole counties

County Cass County, MN

The radar

The Duluth radar (KDLH), 161 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:33 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 15, 5:29 PM CDTHail 0.75Backus, MN
May 15, 5:34 PM CDTHail 1.5Pine River, MN
May 15, 5:34 PM CDTThunderstorm Wind 60 EPine River, MNSeveral trees were blown down, and there was damage to a garage. The wind speed is estimated.

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 nearest sounding before it

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 196 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, International Fa, MN at 12:00Z on 2001-05-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, International Fa, MN at 12:00Z on 2001-05-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 18 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
580 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
18 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
146 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

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

NWS Duluth, MN wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 15, 2:00 PM CDT, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 15, 2:00 PM CDT, 2 hours 30 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DULUTH MN
200 PM CDT TUE MAY 15 2001

THE OBVIOUS CONCERN FOR 1ST PD IS PSBLTY OF SVR THIS EVE. SWODY1 HAS
DETAILS. IN SHORT...LI/S DECRS TO MINUS 8 OR LESS...DEPENDING ON
WHICH CALCULATION IS USED...BY 00Z. CAPES EXCEED 4500 J/KG. INCR IN
SFC TEMPS AND DPTS HAS BEEN RETARDED SOMEWHAT BY MRNG ST LYR...BUT
THAT IS GONE ENTIRELY IN THE S AND JUST ABOUT GONE IN THE N...ALTHO
AC DECK NOW MOVG IN. BIG QUES IS STRENGTH OF THE CAP. ETA/AVN 700 MB
TEMPS REMAIN PLUS 8C OR BETTER UNTIL CFROPA THIS EVE...WHICH IS
MARGINAL. ETA GRID PT SOUNDINGS SHOW LOLVL INVRN ERODING BY 00Z
EXCEPT AT DLH WHICH MAY STAY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE MARINE LYR.
ANY SVR STORMS MAY HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE ADDITIONAL LIFT PROVIDED BY
THE CFNT TO BREAK THE CAP AND TAKE OFF. ALL-IN-ALL...THE SLGT RISK
ISSUED BY SPC SEEMS RSNBL FOR NOW...AND WILL MENTION PSBL SVR IN
ZFP. BEYOND THAT...MODELS AGREE QUITE WELL ON A PERIOD OF TEMPORARY
RIDGING ON WED BEFORE APPROACH OF NXT SYSTEM WED NGT/THU MRNG...AND
DO NOT PLAN MUCH CHG FOR THESE PERIODS. CAA KICKS IN AFT 06Z OR SO
BUT IS SHORT LIVED. GUIDANCE LOWS AT OR SLIGHTLY BLO THIS MORNINGS
LOWS LOOKS RSNBL. WAA ON WED LIKEWISE WILL BE WK AND SHORT LIVED AHD
NXT FNTL BNDRY...BUT FEWER CLDS SHOULD MAKE MID 70S
REACHABLE...MAYBE 80 IN SRN TIER...AND THIS IS ALREADY DEPICTED IN
CURRENT ZONE SET.

.DLH...NONE.

ERF

The office that day

Everything else NWS Duluth, MN issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 5:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDLHCass, Crow Wing63 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 2001Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.