Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2001

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 339, NWS Grand Forks, ND

August 17, 2001Barnes County, Cass County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 17, 2001, 5:00 PM CDT for Barnes County, Cass County, North Dakota. It was in force for 45 min. 1 report 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: Aug 17, 2001, 5:00 PM CDT (22:00 UTC)
Expired: Aug 17, 2001, 5:45 PM CDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Barnes County, ND, Cass County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 64 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:00 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 17, 5:15 PM CDT	Hail 0.88	Tower City, ND

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

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 235 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: 55 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -266 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1896 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 41 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 89 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

724 
WUUS53 KFGF 172201
SVRFAR
NDC003-017-172245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND-GRAND FORKS
500 PM CDT FRI AUG 17 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...

  EASTERN BARNES COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA AND
  WESTERN CASS COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA.

* UNTIL 545 PM CDT.

* AT 455 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES SOUTHWEST OF PAGE...OR ABOUT 20 MILES
  NORTHEAST OF VALLEY CITY...MOVEMENT WAS TO THE SOUTH AT 30 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...

  ORISKA AT 515 PM...
  TOWER CITY AT 520 PM...
  BUFFALO AT 525 PM AND
  ALICE AT 540 PM.

REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE
TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM FRIDAY
EVENING FOR WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA AND SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA.

LAT...LON 4719 9759 4714 9784 4671 9782 4672 9731


$$
55

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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 17, 2:55 PM CDT, 2 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 17, 2:55 PM CDT, 2 hours 5 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
255 PM CDT FRI AUG 17 2001

DISCUSSION ABREVIATED DUE TO SEVERE WEATHER IN AREA.

FCST CHALLENGE...DURATION OF CONVECTION INTO THIS EVENING IN NW MN.

NEAR TERM/ANALYSIS...SFC CDFRNT EXTENDING FM SFC LOW IN WRN
ONT...VCNTY GFK...INTO NWRN SD....AND DROPPING SWD THROUGH THE FGF
CWFA ATTM. CONVECTION HAS INTENSIFIED ALG AND AHD OF THIS FRONT FM
DVL TO BJI...IN AREA OF MAX INSTABILITY. AREA PROGRESSES SWD THROUGH
THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING...SO WILL INCLUDE
MENTION OF EVENING STORMS ALG AND SOUTH OF A VALLEY
CITY...MAYVILLE...TVF AND BDE LINE. AVN AND ETA HAVE SOME INITIAL
DISPARITY THROUGH 00Z BUT LINE UP WELL 12-60HRS. EXPECT CLEARING RRV
AND WEST TNGT WITH SOME RESIDUAL MVFR-VFR CIGS IN NW MN THROUGH THE
OVERNIGHT HOURS. NWLY WINDS ROX-DTL-PKD LIKELY TO GO CALM AT SFC SO
AREAS PATCHY FOG EXPECTED.

SATURDAY...EXPECT LOW CLDS TO BREAK AND SCATTER THROUGH MIDDAY OVR
NW MN...WITH MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES ELSEWHERE. SFC HIGH PRES DOMINATES
SRN MAN INTO ND/MN AREA WITH LIGHT NLY BLAYER FLOW THROUGH DAY ON
SAT. RETURN SLY FLOW DEVELOPS SUNDAY AHD OF APPROACHING SFC TROF.
WILL INCLUDE SUN PM GROUP FOR TSTMS. WILL GO WITH SLIGHTLY WARMER
NGM MOS TEMPS TROUGH PACKAGE.

EXTENDED...MRF...UKMET AND CANADIAN MODELS SIMILAR...WITH ECMWF
QUITE DIFFERENT. UPPER LEVEL W FLOW DOMINATES...WITH STG SHRTWV
ACTIVITY THROUGH EXTENDED PERIOD. EACH DAY HAS TSTM EXPECTATION WITH
SIG MCS AND ADDN HEAVY RAINS SUGGESTED TUES PM INTO WED.

.FGF...NONE.

GUST/NG

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 17, 4:08 PM CDT, 52 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA/GRAND FORKS
408 PM CDT FRI AUG 17 2001

CORRECTION FOR HAIL SIZE

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

0208 PM    4 SE HOOPLE               ND   .75 INCH HAIL
08/17/01   WALSH

0213 PM    NASH                      ND   .75 INCH HAIL
08/17/01   WALSH

0235 PM    3 N ROSEWOOD              MN   .75 INCH HAIL
08/17/01   MARSHALL

0255 PM    3 SW THIEF RIVER FALLS    MN   .75 INCH HAIL
08/17/01   PENNINGTON

0305 PM    DRAYTON                   ND   .75 INCH HAIL
08/17/01   PEMBINA

0310 PM    DOROTHY                   MN   .75 INCH HAIL
08/17/01   RED LAKE

0315 PM    6 SE EUCLID               MN   1.50 INCH HAIL
08/17/01   POLK                           WALNUT SIZE HAIL

0315 PM    2 NE OAKWOOD              ND   .75 INCH HAIL
08/17/01   WALSH

0320 PM    1 NE HUOT                 MN   .75 INCH HAIL
08/17/01   RED LAKE

0335 PM    PLUMMER                   MN   .75 INCH HAIL
08/17/01   RED LAKE

0340 PM    MINTO                     ND   .75 INCH HAIL
08/17/01   WALSH

0340 PM    4 N LUVERNE               ND   1.25 INCH HAIL
08/17/01   STEELE                         DIME TO HALF DOLLAR SIZE
                                          HAIL

0340 PM    1 S BROOKS                MN   1.75 INCH HAIL
08/17/01   RED LAKE                       GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL

NNNN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 17, 2:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Walsh	52 min
Aug 17, 3:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Pembina, Walsh	41 min
Aug 17, 3:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Barnes, Steele	49 min
Aug 17, 3:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Grand Forks, Walsh	48 min
Aug 17, 3:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Traill	50 min
Aug 17, 4:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cass, Traill	40 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Dakota, 2001 Every 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.