Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 29, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 17, 2001Richland County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 17, 2001, 6:48 PM CDT for Richland County, North Dakota. It was in force for 42 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, 6:48 PM CDT (23:48 UTC)
Expired: Jul 17, 2001, 7:30 PM CDT
In force: 42 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Richland County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 106 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:51 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, 7:27 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 61 E	Walcott, ND
Jul 17, 7:27 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Walcott, 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 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

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 215 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: 1939 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -189 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1392 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 95 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 112 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 4.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KFGF 172349
TORFAR

NDC077-180030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND-GRAND FORKS
648 PM CDT TUE JUL 17 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  NORTHERN RICHLAND COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA.

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT.

* AT 646 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 3 MILES NORTHEAST OF BARRIE...OR ABOUT 23 MILES 
SOUTHWEST   OF FARGO.  THE STORM WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...

  WALCOTT AT 715 PM CDT.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO
ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDY BUILDING.

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

LAT...LON 4663 9725 4650 9706 4655 9679 4664 9689


$$
DJK

NNNN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 16, 9:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson, Eddy	27 min
Jul 17, 3:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Griggs, Steele	50 min
Jul 17, 4:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Griggs, Steele	26 min
Jul 17, 4:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Griggs, Steele	45 min
Jul 17, 4:31 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FGF	Griggs, Steele	4 hr
Jul 17, 4:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Traill	53 min
Jul 17, 5:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Traill	44 min
Jul 17, 5:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Griggs, Steele	40 min
Jul 17, 5:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cass	42 min
Jul 17, 6:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Traill	42 min
Jul 17, 6:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cass	53 min
Jul 17, 6:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Barnes	64 min
Jul 17, 6:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Cass	26 min
Jul 17, 6:59 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Cass	46 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.