Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 2001

Tornado Watch 579

July 18, 20016 counties in Minnesota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 18, 2001, 6:30 PM CDT for 6 counties in Minnesota. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 18, 2001, 6:30 PM CDT (23:30 UTC)
Expired: Jul 18, 2001, 10:00 PM CDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Beltrami County, MN, Clearwater County, MN, Itasca County, MN, Koochiching County, MN, Lake of the Woods County, MN, Roseau County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 193 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:33 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.

Warnings issued inside it

10 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 18, 7:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods	52 min
Jul 18, 7:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods	39 min
Jul 18, 7:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Roseau	66 min
Jul 18, 8:09 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods, Roseau	2 hr
Jul 18, 8:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DLH	Koochiching	58 min
Jul 18, 8:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Beltrami, Lake of the Woods	55 min
Jul 18, 9:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Roseau	29 min
Jul 18, 9:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods	47 min
Jul 18, 9:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DLH	Koochiching	61 min
Jul 18, 10:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Beltrami	45 min

The nearest sounding before it

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 131 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: 362 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -229 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1307 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 7 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 156 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

297 
WWUS9 KMKC 182330
SEL9  
MKC WW 182326
MNZ000-190300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 579
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
626 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2001

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   NORTHERN MINNESOTA                          

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 630 PM UNTIL
1000 PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 65 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 15 MILES SOUTHEAST OF BEMIDJI MINNESOTA TO 45 MILES
EAST OF WARROAD MINNESOTA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 575...WW 576...WW
577...WW 578...

DISCUSSION...THREAT FOR SUPERCELLS WITH ATTENDENT TORNADOES
EXPECTED TO SPREAD ESE INTO NRN MN NEXT SEVERAL HOURS AS
CONVERGENCE CONTINUES ALONG DIFUSE BOUNDARY STALLED ROUGHLY W/E
ALONG THE INTERNATIONAL BORDER. 

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 600. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 29025.

...CORFIDI

472,0960 485,0954 485,0925 472,0931

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 17, 7:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Aitkin, Becker, Beltrami, Carlton, Cass, Clay and 23 more	5 hr
Jul 17, 9:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Anoka, Benton, Big Stone, Carver, Chippewa, Chisago and 27 more	6 hr
Jul 18, 4:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Clay, Kittson, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk and 2 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2001 Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.