Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 20, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 22, 2002Otter Tail County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 22, 2002, 7:43 PM CDT for Otter Tail County, Minnesota. It was in force for 32 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, 7:43 PM CDT (00:43 UTC)
Expired: May 22, 2002, 8:15 PM CDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Otter Tail County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 153 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:46 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, 7:50 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Pelican Rapids, 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 22, 4:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 258 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: 3889 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 64 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 230043
SVRFAR
MNC111-230115-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...

  CENTRAL OTTER TAIL COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA.

* UNTIL 815 PM CDT.

* AT 740 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER MAPLEWOOD STATE PARK...OR ABOUT 17 MILES
  NORTH OF FERGUS FALLS...MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTHEAST AT 55 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...

  STAR LAKE AT 745 PM AND
  VERGAS AT 750 PM.

WINDS UP TO 65 MPH AND HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF QUARTERS 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 4646 9619 4633 9600 4654 9567 4669 9589

$$
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 58 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 22, 3:45 PM CDT, 3 hours 58 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, 7:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Polk, Red Lake	37 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.