Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 175, NWS Grand Forks, ND
NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 8, 2002, 4:09 PM CDT for Barnes County, North Dakota. It was in force for 51 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.
The facts
- Issued
- Aug 8, 2002, 4:09 PM CDT (21:09 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 8, 2002, 5:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 51 min
- Issued by
- NWS Grand Forks, ND
- Area
- Counties, with a storm outline in the text
County Barnes County, ND
The radar
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 80 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 8, 4:15 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Valley City, ND |
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.
Did it verify
Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.
Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.
The watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 8, 3:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 9.2 hours before the alert went out and 203 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
- 274 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -305 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1167 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 39 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 29 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 75 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
277 WUUS53 KFGF 082109 SVRFAR NDC003-082200- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS 409 PM CDT THU AUG 8 2002 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... BARNES COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA. * UNTIL 500 PM CDT. * AT 405 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THE LEADING EDGE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM 20 MILES NORTH OF VALLEY CITY TO 21 MILES SOUTHWEST OF VALLEY CITY... MOVEMENT WAS TO THE EAST AT 20 MPH. * SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE NEAR... BALD HILL DAM AT 415 PM... HASTINGS AT 420 PM... SIBLEY AT 425 PM AND VALLEY CITY AT 430 PM. REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM THURSDAY EVENING FOR NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA AND EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA. LAT...LON 4723 9822 4666 9831 4666 9773 4722 9775 77 NNNN
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 8, 3:25 PM CDT, 44 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 8, 3:25 PM CDT, 44 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND 325 PM CDT THU AUG 8 2002 FORECAST CHALLENGE FOR TODAY IS PRECIPITATION. LATEST SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS CLOUDS MAINLY OVER ND SIDE. KMVX HAS CLUSTER OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN DVL AREA WITH ADDITIONAL PRECIPITATION EXTENDING ALONG W EDGE OF AREA. CURRENT MSAS SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS SURFACE LOW CENTERED IN S MB...WITH FRONT EXTENDING THROUGH ND ALONG A DVL-JMS-MBG LINE. WHEN COMPARING MSAS DATA TO MODEL INITIALIZATIONS...NGM AND ETA BETTER MATCH THAN AVN...WITH AVN A TAD MORE PROGRESSIVE. HOWEVER...MODELS VARY QUITE A BIT ON HOW UPPER LEVEL LOW WILL TRAVERSE THROUGH AREA AND AMOUNTS OF QPF ACCOMPANYING IT. CONSEQUENTLY...STUCK CLOSEST TO ETA TIMING...BUT UTILIZED AVN FOR QPF COMPROMISE. WITH LIFTED INDICES DOWN TO -9 AND A GOOD SURFACE MOISTURE FLUX CONVERGENCE AREA ALONG AND AHEAD OF TROF IN E ND...EXPECT THUNDERSTORMS...SOME SEVERE WITH HEAVY RAIN TO DEVELOP SHORTLY AND CONTINUE THROUGH MUCH OF THE EVENING. AS A RESULT...WILL KEEP FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT AND PARTS OF MN FOR FRI. IN ADDITION...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR E ND AND PARTS OF NW MN UNTIL 9 PM TONIGHT. UPPER LEVEL LOW FINALLY MOVES E OF AREA SAT NIGHT...ALLOWING UPPER LEVEL RIDGE TO BRIEFLY BUILD IN OVER AREA FOR SAT NIGHT AND SUN. EXTENDED...ENSEMBLES AND 12Z AVN LEAN TOWARD A SLOWER SOLUTION THAN OPERATIONAL MRF FOR UPPER LOW MOVING SOUTH THROUGH MANITOBA. UPPER LOW WILL DRAW MUCH COOLER WEATHER INTO THE N PLAINS FOR THE FIRST PART OF THE WEEK WITH HINTS OF +4-6C TEMPERATURES AT 850MB INVADING THE REGION. EXPECT COOL AND SHOWERY DAY ON MON WITH LINGERING ACTIVITY INTO TUE. SYSTEM SWINGS TOWARD THE NE BY MID WEEK WITH GRADUAL WARMUP TO FOLLOW. TEMPERATURES WILL BE BELOW SEASONAL AVERAGES DURING THE PERIOD. .FGF...FLOOD WATCH FOR ALL OF AREA TONIGHT...AND FOR PARTS OF NW AND WC MN FOR FRI. SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH ALL OF E ND AND PARTS OF NW AND WC MN UNTIL 9 PM TONIGHT. NG
The office that day
Everything else NWS Grand Forks, ND issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 8, 2:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Ramsey | 51 min |
| Aug 8, 3:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Nelson | 39 min |
| Aug 8, 3:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Walsh | 49 min |
| Aug 8, 4:37 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FGF | Grand Forks | 38 min |
| Aug 8, 5:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Steele, Traill | 45 min |
| Aug 8, 5:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Grand Forks | 65 min |
| Aug 8, 5:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Traill | 44 min |
| Aug 8, 6:24 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Steele | 51 min |
| Aug 8, 6:44 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | FGF | Traill | 6 hr |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Dakota, 2002Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2002
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.