Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 2001
Tornado Warning 1, NWS Twin Cities, MN
NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this tornado warning at May 1, 2001, 4:50 PM CDT for Blue Earth County, Minnesota. It was in force for 25 min. 4 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
- May 1, 2001, 4:50 PM CDT (21:50 UTC)
- Expired
- May 1, 2001, 5:15 PM CDT
- In force
- 25 min
- Issued by
- NWS Twin Cities, MN
- Area
- Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction
County Blue Earth County, MN
The radar
The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 104 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:52 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 1, 4:50 PM CDT | Hail 0.88 | Mapleton, MN | |
| May 1, 4:55 PM CDT | Hail 1.5 | Garden City, MN | |
| May 1, 4:55 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Mapleton, MN | Touched down in open field. No damage reported. |
| May 1, 5:05 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 55 E | Mapleton, MN | Damage induced by rear flank downdraft per NWS damage survey. A few dozen trees down. |
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 1, 3:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 103 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 771 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 24 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 73 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WFUS53 KMPX 012150 TORMSP MNC013-012215- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN 450 PM CDT TUE MAY 1 2001 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN THE TWIN CITIES HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... BLUE EARTH COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA * UNTIL 515 PM CDT * AT 450 PM CDT...SEVERE WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO 3 MILES EAST OF VERNON CENTER...OR ABOUT 15 MILES SOUTHWEST OF MANKATO... MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH. * SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE... MANKATO. GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR LAT...LON 4400 9426 4385 9420 4386 9379 4424 9391 &
The office that day
Everything else NWS Twin Cities, MN issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 30, 7:29 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Martin | 61 min |
| May 1, 4:24 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Carver, McLeod, Sibley | 51 min |
| May 1, 4:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Blue Earth, Faribault | 39 min |
| May 1, 4:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Le Sueur | 39 min |
| May 1, 4:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Carver | 35 min |
| May 1, 5:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Waseca | 39 min |
| May 1, 5:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Anoka, Hennepin | 47 min |
| May 1, 5:18 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Faribault, Freeborn | 42 min |
| May 1, 5:21 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Anoka, Hennepin | 24 min |
| May 1, 5:27 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Steele | 48 min |
| May 1, 5:35 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Dakota, Ramsey, Washington | 55 min |
| May 1, 5:37 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Waseca | 23 min |
| May 1, 5:49 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Anoka, Chisago | 41 min |
| May 1, 6:03 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Steele, Waseca | 42 min |
| May 1, 6:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Washington | 29 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 2001Every tornado warning in 2001Tornadoes 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.