Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2001
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 254, NWS Grand Forks, ND
NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 5, 2001, 6:20 PM CDT for Polk County, Minnesota. It was in force for 40 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
- Aug 5, 2001, 6:20 PM CDT (23:20 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 5, 2001, 7:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 40 min
- Issued by
- NWS Grand Forks, ND
- Area
- Whole counties
County Polk County, MN
The radar
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 74 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:22 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 6:44 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Girard, MN | |
| Aug 5, 6:50 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Crookston, MN | |
| Aug 5, 7:10 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Harold, MN |
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, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 246 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1664 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -75 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 884 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 49 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 75 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 107 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WUUS53 KFGF 052320 SVRFAR MNC119-060000- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND-GRAND FORKS 620 PM CDT SUN AUG 5 2001 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... SOUTHWESTERN POLK COUNTY IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. * UNTIL 700 PM CDT. * AT 617 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 3 MILES WEST OF FISHER...OR ABOUT 13 MILES SOUTHEAST OF GRAND FORKS...MOVEMENT WAS TO THE SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH. * THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR... FISHER AT 625 PM CDT... ELDRED AT 635 PM CDT... CROOKSTON AT 645 PM CDT AND GREENVIEW |AT 700 PM CDT. REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. $$ 14 NNNN
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 Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 5, 3:25 PM CDT, 2 hours 55 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 5, 3:25 PM CDT, 2 hours 55 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 325 PM CDT SUN AUG 5 2001 FORECAST CHALLENGE IS PCPN. CURRENT SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS CWFA REMNANT CI AND AC OVER W AND E PARTS OF CWFA WITH REMAINDER SKC. LATEST MSAS SFC PRESSURE ANALYSIS HAS LOW CENTERED IN S MB N OF ROX...WITH COLD FRONT EXTENDING THROUGH CWFA ALONG A ROX-GFK-JMS LINE. WHEN COMPARING INITIALIZATION CONDITIONS TO MODELS...AVN CLOSEST MATCH. COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH MUCH OF CWFA BY 06Z MON...AND WITH CAP DECREASING AS GO INTO EVENING...ANTICIPATE TSRA TO REDEVELOP. CONSIDERING THAT CAPES ABOUT 3000...LI'S -5 TO -12 OVER CWFA...AND BEST SHEAR IN FAR E CWFA...COULD SEE SOME SVR THIS EVENING. AS A RESULT...LEFT CHC TSRA IN S VALLEY AND MN SIDE OF CWFA. WITH DRIER DEWPOINTS WORKING IN BEHIND COLD FRONT...WILL LET HEAT ADVISORY EXPIRE. ON MON...SFC HIGH MOVES THROUGH CWFA WITH PLENTY OF SUN...ALLOWING TEMPS TO RETURN TO 85 TO 95 RANGE. SFC HIGH MOVES E OF CWFA MON NIGHT...ALLOWING RETURN FLOW TO SET UP AHEAD OF NEXT LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM. SHOWALTERS GO NEGATIVE WITH STRONG WAA...PROVIDING POTENTIAL FOR ELEVATED CONVECTION MOVING INTO CENTRAL ND...SO KEPT CHC TSRA FOR DVL SET. SFC LOW TRACKS INTO W ND BY 00Z WED...WITH LI'S GOING NEGATIVE AS WARM FRONT PUSHES THROUGH N CWFA INTO CANADA. THEREFORE...KEPT CHC POPS FOR TSRA. ON TUE NIGHT...SFC LOW STARTS MOVING E ACROSS ND...GIVING BEST POTENTIAL FOR ADDITIONAL TSRA ACROSS N CWFA...SO WENT LIKELY POPS N CWFA AND CHC POPS S CWFA. EXTENDED...MEAN H5 CIRCULATION ATTEMPTS TO TRANSITION FM A MUDDY 5 WAVE PATTERN TO A MORE STABLE THREE WAVE PATTERN BY DAY 5. HOT RIDGE IN CNTRL U.S. FLATTENS ACROSS ENTIRE CAN/AM BDR BY DAY 2...WITH A ERN NOAM TROF DEEPENING AFTER. PATTERN SHOULD SPELL TEMP/PCPN RELIEF FOR THE BAKED AND SOAKED NRN PLAINS AFT WED WHEN TEMPS DROP NEAR TO BLO NORMALS. MAIN TSTM ACTIVITY SHOULD DEPART THE AREA ON WED. DRY PATTERN EXPECTED AFTER THOUGH ECMWF AND NEW AVN HINT AT SHRTWV TROF ACTION ON FRIDAY. .FGF...NONE. NG/GUST
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Aug 5, 3:50 PM CDT, 2 hours 30 minutes before
MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024- 026>030-038-039-049-052>054-052330- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 350 PM CDT SUN AUG 5 2001 ...HOT AND HUMID CONDITIONS TO SLOWLY ABATE THIS EVENING... THE HOT AND HUMID CONDITIONS WHICH HAVE PLAGUED THE NORTHERN PLAINS FOR THE LAST FEW DAYS WILL SLOWLY ABATE THROUGH THE EVENING PERIOD. AS A RESULT...THE HEAT ADVISORIES FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA WILL BE ALLOWED TO EXPIRE. A WEAK SURFACE COLD FRONT IN EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WILL MOVE THROUGH NORTHWEST MINNESOTA THIS EVENING. WINDS WILL TURN OUT OF THE WEST TO NORTHWEST OVERNIGHT BRINGING SLIGHTLY DRIER AIR INTO THE AREA. CONDITIONS OVERNIGHT WILL STILL REMAIN QUITE WARM FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR...AND AFTER THESE LAST FEW DAYS OF EXTREMELY STRESSFUL HEAT...PERSONS WITH HEALTH RISKS SHOULD BE CLOSELY MONITORED. GUST
The office that day
Everything else NWS Grand Forks, ND issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 6:59 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Polk | 46 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.