Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 268, NWS Grand Forks, ND

August 26, 2002Walsh County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 26, 2002, 6:48 PM CDT for Walsh County, North Dakota. It was in force for 42 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 26, 2002, 6:48 PM CDT (23:48 UTC)
Expired: Aug 26, 2002, 7:30 PM CDT
In force: 42 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Walsh County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 97 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:49 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 26, 7:05 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Park River, ND
Aug 26, 7:16 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Park River, 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 26, 2:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 290 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: 292 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -375 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1488 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 101 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 208 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

147 
WUUS53 KFGF 262348
SVRFAR
NDC099-270030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
648 PM CDT MON AUG 26 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...

  WALSH COUNTY IN NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA.

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT.

* AT 639 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 3 MILES NORTHEAST OF PISEK...OR ABOUT 13 MILES
  WEST OF GRAFTON...MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...

  VESELEYVILLE AT 650 PM...
  NASH AT 705 PM AND
  GRAFTON AT 710 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 MONDAY
EVENING FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA.

LAT...LON 4834 9793 4822 9761 4844 9727 4854 9755

BERG

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 26, 2:50 PM CDT, 3 hours 58 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 26, 2:50 PM CDT, 3 hours 58 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
250 PM CDT MON AUG 26 2002

...NEW SVR WATCH JUST ISSUED FOR ERN ND PER SPC CONF CALL...

MAIN CHALLENGE IS SVR WX POTENTIAL TONIGHT.

SFC MAP SHOWS CONTINUED WEAK FLOW OVER THE AREA MAKING BOUNDARY
IDENTIFICATION DIFFICULT.  SFC LOW IN SE WYOMING WITH A TROUGH NORTH
INTO FAR WRN ND.  OTHERWISE ERN/CNTRL ND AND WRN MN IN SOUTHEASTLY
FLOW.  DEW PTS HAVE MADE GOOD RECOVERY WITH MOST SITES IN THE 65 TO
70 RANGE...ONCE AGAIN A GOOD 4-8 DEGREES HIGHER THAN PROGGED BY ANY
MODEL.  MSAS SHOWS SFC LI DOWN TO -9 OVER NE ND AND ERN SD.  VSBL
SATELLITE HAS SHOWN TENDENCY FOR CU TO FORM IN AREA FROM BISMARCK TO
JUST WEST OF GRAND FORKS...BUT NOT MUCH GROWTH SINCE 18Z.  RADARS
SHOW TSRA IN NRN SD BACKBUILDING WESTWARD INTO NW SD IN AREA OF
THICKNESS DIFFLUENCE.

.SHORT TERM...
MODIFIED MESO ETA SOUNDINGS FOR TEMPS IN THE MID 80S AND DEW PTS IN
THE UPR 60S SHOWS CAPES AT 00Z AROUND 3600 J/KG AND LI TO -10 AT
KGFK.  WATER VAPOR SHOWS SOME WEAK EMBEDDED SHORT WAVES MOVING SOUTH
OF UPR LOW THRU SD/ND....BUT REALLLY HARD TO DISCERN WHICH ONE WILL
SET OFF ACTIVITY.  85H JET/THETA-E VALUES INCREASE A BIT OVERNIGHT
MAXING AROUND 06Z.  BASED ON PAST DAYS WEATHER AND CURRENT
INSTABILITY VALUES WOULD EXPECT SCT TSRA TO FIRE LATE THIS AFTN
NORTHEAST OF BISMARCK WITH POTENTIAL FOR GROWTH INTO A LARGER AREA
DURING THE EVENING.  WILL CONTINUE MENTION OF SVR THIS EVENING FOR
NW MN AND ERN ND.  FZG LEVELS AROUND 11.5 KFT.  THICKNESS FIELDS AND
UPR FLOW ALOFT WOULD SUGGEST SLOW MOVES WITH POTENTIAL FOR
BACKBUILDING OF ANY COMPLEX WHICH MAY FORM.  THIS COULD GIVE LOCALLY
HEAVY RAIN POTENTIAL.

.LONGER TERM...
50H UPR LOW IN SRN SASK WILL DRIFT ENE VERY SLOWLY INTO SRN MANITOBA
TUE-WED TIME FRAME AND WEAKEN FURTHER.  50H TEMPS WARM A BIT BUT LOW
LEVEL MOISTURE REMAINS HIGH WITH DEW PTS HOLDING IN THE 60S.  WITH
CONTINUED SHORT WAVES MOVING THRU AREA IN BROAD SW FLOW WILL
CONTINUE MENTION OF TSRA THRU WED.  ETA BRINGS A TROUGH INTO ERN ND
LATE WED AVN BRINGS IT THROUGH LATE TUESDAY.  WILL LEAN TOWARD
SLOWER ETA SOLN. WILL KEEP THURSDAY DRY AWAITING NEXT IMPULSE.
WILL KEEP TEMPS NEARLY SAME THRU PD.

.EXTENDED...
LONG RANGE MODELS IN PRETTY GOOD AGREEMENT. 500MB TROF
DEEPENS ALONG W US COAST...AS ANOTHER UPPER LEVEL TROF MOVES THROUGH
THE REGION BY THE WEEKEND. THEN...UPPER LEVEL RIDGE STARTS BUILDING
INTO THE AREA. WITH GOOD CONTINUITY TO PRIOR FORECAST...ONLY MINIMAL
NEEDED TO BOTH PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURES.

.FGF...NONE.

RIDDLE/NG

.FGF...NONE
RIDDLE

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 26, 5:30 PM CDT, 1 hour 18 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS, ND
530 PM CDT MON AUG 26 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0500 PM    MINNEWAUKAN               ND   .88 INCH HAIL
08/26/02   BENSON                         HAIL FELL FOR HALF AN
                                          HOUR. REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT.

DPORTER

Local storm report, Aug 26, 5:35 PM CDT, 1 hour 13 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS, ND
535 PM CDT MON AUG 26 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0512 PM    MADDOCK                   ND   .75 INCH HAIL
08/26/02   BENSON

DPORTER

Local storm report, Aug 26, 5:42 PM CDT, 1 hour 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS, ND
542 PM CDT MON AUG 26 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0540 PM    PENN                      ND   1.00 INCH HAIL
08/26/02   RAMSEY

DPORTER

Local storm report, Aug 26, 5:53 PM CDT, 55 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS, ND
553 PM CDT MON AUG 26 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0545 PM    LEEDS                     ND   .88 INCH HAIL
08/26/02   BENSON                         REPORTED BY CO-OP
                                          OBSERVER.

DPORTER

Local storm report, Aug 26, 6:02 PM CDT, 46 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS, ND
602 PM CDT MON AUG 26 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0415 PM    6 W RED LAKE FALLS        MN   1.00 INCH HAIL
08/26/02   RED LAKE                       REPORTED BY PUBLIC.

DPORTER

Local storm report, Aug 26, 6:21 PM CDT, 27 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS, ND
621 PM CDT MON AUG 26 2002

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0620 PM    CANDO                     ND   .75 INCH HAIL
08/26/02   TOWNER                         REPORTED BY CO-OP
                                          OBSERVER.

DPORTER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 26, 12:36 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson	39 min
Aug 26, 1:40 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson, Ramsey	50 min
Aug 26, 5:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson	43 min
Aug 26, 5:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Ramsey	44 min
Aug 26, 5:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson	29 min
Aug 26, 6:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Towner	45 min
Aug 26, 6:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Ramsey	47 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Dakota, 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.