Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 11, NWS Twin Cities, MN

May 9, 2001Dakota County, Rice County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this tornado warning at May 9, 2001, 7:54 PM CDT for Dakota County, Rice County, Minnesota. It was in force for 36 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: May 9, 2001, 7:54 PM CDT (00:54 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 2001, 8:30 PM CDT
In force: 36 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Dakota County, MN, Rice County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 50 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:56 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 9, 8:00 PM CDT	Tornado F2	Northfield, MN	NWS damage survey rated the tornado an F2. Tornado touched down briefly in downtown Northfield, flipping over a semi trailer truck and lifting the roof off of one business. Three-fourths mile later, it touched down again on the east side of Northfield, and th
May 9, 8:08 PM CDT	Tornado F2	Northfield, MN	The Northfield tornado (which originated in Rice County) crossed Highway 19 into extreme southeastern Dakota County, then went into Goodhue County. Five homes sustained major damage, including one with its roof completely removed. 12 other homes received mino

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 9, 4:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 00:00Z, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 51 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: 1211 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -80 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1740 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 368 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 795 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.1
Supercell composite: 8.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KMPX 100055
TORMSP
MNC037-131-100130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
754 PM CDT WED MAY 9 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN THE TWIN CITIES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN DAKOTA COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL MINNESOTA
  RICE COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 830 PM CDT

* AT 754 PM CDT...RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 4 MILES WEST
  OF DUNDAS...OR ABOUT 9 MILES NORTH OF FARIBAULT...MOVING EAST
  AT 20 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...
  NORTHFIELD.
  DUNDAS.
  WEBSTER
  CASTLE ROCK.

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOODR!

LAT...LON 4444 9345 4431 9327 4443 9309 4454 9305
          4454 9336

The office that day

Everything else NWS Twin Cities, MN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 9, 7:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Faribault, Freeborn	43 min
May 9, 7:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Dakota, Hennepin	40 min
May 9, 7:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Mille Lacs, Morrison	51 min
May 9, 7:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Scott	31 min
May 9, 7:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Steele, Waseca	64 min
May 9, 7:26 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Scott	34 min
May 9, 7:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Goodhue	61 min
May 9, 7:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Dakota	44 min
May 9, 7:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Faribault, Freeborn	44 min
May 9, 8:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Kanabec, Mille Lacs	44 min
May 9, 8:06 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Kanabec, Mille Lacs	39 min
May 9, 8:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Goodhue	35 min
May 9, 8:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Steele	35 min
May 9, 8:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Goodhue	31 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.