Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 18, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 22, 2002Polk County, Red Lake County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 22, 2002, 7:08 PM CDT for Polk County, Red Lake County, Minnesota. It was in force for 37 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: May 22, 2002, 7:08 PM CDT (00:08 UTC)
Expired: May 22, 2002, 7:45 PM CDT
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Polk County, MN, Red Lake County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 103 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:11 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 22, 7:15 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Winger, MN

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 nearest sounding before it

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 00:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 221 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: 1289 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 153 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 427 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 
WUUS53 KFGF 230008
SVRFAR
MNC119-125-230045-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
707 PM CDT WED MAY 22 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...

  SOUTHEASTERN POLK COUNTY IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA AND
  EASTERN RED LAKE COUNTY IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

* UNTIL 745 PM CDT.

* AT 705 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 3 MILES SOUTH OF ERSKINE...OR ABOUT 35 MILES
  SOUTH OF THIEF RIVER FALLS...MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTHEAST AT 45
  MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...

  ERSKINE AT 710 PM...
  BROOKS AT 720 PM AND
  OKLEE AT 725 PM.

WINDS OF UP TO 65 MPH ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.

REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE
TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM WEDNESDAY
EVENING FOR NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA AND EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA.

LAT...LON 4761 9620 4751 9598 4785 9561 4794 9590


$$
30

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 May 22, 3:45 PM CDT, 3 hours 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 22, 3:45 PM CDT, 3 hours 23 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
345 PM CDT WED MAY 22 2002

.SHORT TERM...
UPPER LEVEL LOW OVER SE MT. LOW WILL MOVE E AND OPEN UP AND BECOME
INCORPORATED WITH TROUGH ROTATING THROUGH EASTERN CANADA OVERNIGHT.
VISIBLE SATELLITE LOOP HAS DRY SLOT OVER CENTRAL INTO SOUTHEAST ND.
TEMPERATURES HAVE RISEN INTO THE UPPER 70S IN CLEAR ZONE AND 50S
DEWPOINTS IN EASTERN ND. DRYLINE WAS MOVING EAST AND HAS MOVED
THROUGH BIS AND ABR. MODEL SOUNDINGS/CROSS SECTIONS COOL FROM 850 TO
NEAR 300 MB THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING AS COOLER MID LEVEL AIR MOVES IN
ALOFT. A CLOUDY SKY HAS DEVELOPED ACROSS THE MN SIDE OF THE RIVER
AND IN NE ND.

.EXTENDED-SATURDAY-WEDNESDAY...
GOOD WARM AIR ADVECTION MOVES BACK IN BY SATURDAY WITH MOST AREAS
APPROACHING SEASONAL AVERAGES. AVN INDICATING A WEAK TROUGH PUSHING
THROUGH MID DAY SATURDAY ALONG WITH A MID LEVEL WAVE AND A RIBBON OF
HIGHER 850 MB DEWPOINTS...CREATING SOME INSTABILITY...HOWEVER WILL
HOLD OFF MENTIONING SHOWERS AT THIS TIME. NEXT SYSTEM APPROACHES
LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. MOISTURE AND DYNAMICS LOOK BETTER
WITH THIS SYSTEM. WILL ADD THUNDER MENTION FOR SUNDAY AND SUNDAY
NIGHT. HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN MONDAY AND WILL PUSH AREA OF
PRECIPITATION TO THE EAST. UPPER LEVEL RIDGE MOVES OVER THE REGION
BY MID WEEK AND KEEP THE AREA DRY WITH TEMPERATURES NEAR SEASONAL
AVERAGES.

.FGF...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH ALL OF EASTERN ND AND MUCH OF
NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MN TIL 10 PM CDT.

HOPPES/DONAVON/BRIDENSTINE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Grand Forks, ND issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 22, 7:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Otter Tail	32 min
May 22, 8:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Beltrami	43 min
May 22, 8:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Hubbard	23 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 2002 Every 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.