Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Twin Cities, MN

May 1, 2001Steele County, Waseca County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this tornado warning at May 1, 2001, 6:03 PM CDT for Steele County, Waseca County, Minnesota. 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: May 1, 2001, 6:03 PM CDT (23:03 UTC)
Expired: May 1, 2001, 6:45 PM CDT
In force: 42 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Steele County, MN, Waseca County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 89 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:02 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, 6:05 PM CDT	Hail 1.5	Waseca, MN
May 1, 6:32 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Hope, MN	Brief touchdown in field. No damage reported.

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, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 89 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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KMPX 012303
TORMSP
MNC147-161-012345-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
603 PM CDT TUE MAY 1 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN THE TWIN CITIES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN WASECA COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA
  STEELE COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 645 PM CDT

* AT 603 PM CDT...RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 4 MILES SOUTH
  OF WASECA...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...
  OWATONNA.
  WASECA.
  MEDFORD.

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR

LAT...LON 4405 9365 4391 9354 4397 9321 4419 9308
          4419 9337

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, 4:50 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Blue Earth	25 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, 6:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Washington	29 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.