Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 176, NWS Grand Forks, ND

August 8, 2002Steele County, Traill County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 8, 2002, 5:00 PM CDT for Steele County, Traill County, North Dakota. It was in force for 45 min. 2 reports 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, 5:00 PM CDT (22:00 UTC)
Expired
Aug 8, 2002, 5:45 PM CDT
In force
45 min
Issued by
NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Steele County, ND, Traill County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 20 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:01 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 8, 5:30 PM CDTHail 0.88Hope, ND
Aug 8, 5:30 PM CDTHail 0.75Portland, 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Aug 8, 3:10 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 250 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Bismarck Municip, ND at 12:00Z on 2002-08-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 274 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Bismarck Municip, ND at 12:00Z on 2002-08-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 29 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

885 
WUUS53 KFGF 082200
SVRFAR
NDC091-097-082245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
500 PM CDT THU AUG 8 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...

  EASTERN STEELE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA AND
  WESTERN TRAILL COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA.

* UNTIL 545 PM CDT.

* AT 456 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES SOUTHEAST OF GOLDEN LAKE...OR ABOUT 36
  MILES SOUTHWEST OF GRAND FORKS...MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTHEAST AT
  20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...

  PORTLAND AT 510 PM AND
  HATTON AT 520 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 4765 9784 4728 9775 4730 9724 4766 9725

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, 1 hour 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 8, 3:25 PM CDT, 1 hour 35 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 8, 2:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFRamsey51 min
Aug 8, 3:36 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFNelson39 min
Aug 8, 3:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFWalsh49 min
Aug 8, 4:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFBarnes51 min
Aug 8, 4:37 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFGrand Forks38 min
Aug 8, 5:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFGrand Forks65 min
Aug 8, 5:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFTraill44 min
Aug 8, 6:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFSteele51 min
Aug 8, 6:44 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningFGFTraill6 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.