Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 15, 2001Polk County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at May 15, 2001, 4:47 PM CDT for Polk County, Minnesota. It was in force for 28 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: May 15, 2001, 4:47 PM CDT (21:47 UTC)
Expired: May 15, 2001, 5:15 PM CDT
In force: 28 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Polk County, MN

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 15, 4:53 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Gully, MN	A tornado travelled through a pasture and a grove of trees.

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
May 15, 2:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 166 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: 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

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

000 
WFUS53 KFGF 152149
TORFAR

MNC007-029-119-152215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND-GRAND FORKS
447 PM CDT TUE MAY 15 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CENTRAL BELTRAMI COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA
  NORTHERN CLEARWATER COUNTY IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
  EXTREME EAST CENTRAL POLK COUNTY IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 515 PM CDT

* AT 442 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR I           
  INDICATED A TORNADO 3 MILES SOUTHEAST OF ROLAND...OR ABOUT 25 MILES
  SOUTHEAST OF THIEF RIVER FALLS...MOVEMENT WAS TO THE EAST AT 35    
  MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  BERNER AT 455 PM CDT
  RED LAKE RESERVATION OF CLEARWATER AND BELTRAMI COUNTY 

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 800 PM CDT
TUESDAY EVENING FOR NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA AND EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA.

LAT...LON 4804 9557 4778 9577 4779 9492 4817 9492
$$

NNNN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 3:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Polk	57 min
May 15, 3:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Pennington	36 min
May 15, 3:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Becker	44 min
May 15, 3:50 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Pennington, Red Lake	30 min
May 15, 4:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Polk	33 min
May 15, 4:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Otter Tail, Wadena	40 min
May 15, 4:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Pennington, Red Lake	24 min
May 15, 4:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Becker	28 min
May 15, 4:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Hubbard	29 min
May 15, 4:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Beltrami, Clearwater	28 min
May 15, 5:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard	49 min
May 15, 5:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Beltrami	30 min
May 15, 5:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Roseau	24 min
May 15, 5:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods	45 min
May 15, 6:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Beltrami	19 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 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.