Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 334, NWS Grand Forks, ND
NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 1, 2002, 12:20 AM CDT for Polk County, Minnesota. It was in force for 40 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
- Sep 1, 2002, 12:20 AM CDT (05:20 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 1, 2002, 1:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 40 min
- Issued by
- NWS Grand Forks, ND
- Area
- Counties, with a storm outline in the text
County Polk County, MN
The radar
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:20 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 12:20 AM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 55 M | Fisher, MN | A 63 mph wind gust was measured at the MN DOT RWIS site near Fisher. |
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 31, 9:55 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 00:00Z, 5.3 hours before the alert went out and 270 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
- 2440 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -13 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 988 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 140 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 180 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.4
- Supercell composite
- 6.5
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
087 WUUS53 KFGF 010520 SVRFAR MNC119-010600- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS 1220 AM CDT SUN SEP 1 2002 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... WESTERN POLK COUNTY IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. * UNTIL 100 AM CDT. * AT 1215 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THE LEADING EDGE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM 15 MILES NORTH OF GRAND FORKS TO 8 MILES EAST OF GRAND FORKS... MOVEMENT WAS TO THE EAST AT 20 MPH. * SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE NEAR... TABOR AT 1225 AM... SHERACK AT 1230 AM... ANGUS AT 1240 AM AND EUCLID AT 1245 AM. REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 400 AM SUNDAY MORNING FOR NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA AND EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA. LAT...LON 4816 9710 4777 9691 4784 9653 4813 9659 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 31, 8:45 PM CDT, 3 hours 35 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 31, 8:45 PM CDT, 3 hours 35 minutes before
FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
845 PM CDT SAT AUG 31 2002
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE CONFINED SO FAR TO EXTREME NORTHERN RED
RIVER VALLEY BUT TRAINING THUNDERSTORMS ARE APPROACHING ON SEVERAL
FRONTS AT WEST/SOUTHWEST SIDE OF CWA. BELIEVE THE AVN WAS MOST
CORRECT IN PLACEMENT OF HEAVIEST RAIN TONIGHT BUT FLOOD WATCH IN
EFFECT THROUGHOUT REGION IS STILL VALID WITH SATURATED SOILS IN
ABUNDANCE. WILL LEAVE ZONES BASICALLY ALONE BUT WILL ADD EMPHASIS
ON FLOOD POTENTIAL AS NONE WAS INCLUDED EARLIER.
.FGF...FLASH FLOOD WATCH ENTIRE CWA TONIGHT.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH TIL MIDNIGHT NORTH HALF EXCEPT LAKE
OF THE WOODS AND BELTRAMI COUNTIES.
GVThe office that day
Everything else NWS Grand Forks, ND issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 31, 8:53 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Kittson | 52 min |
| Aug 31, 11:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Clay | 44 min |
| Sep 1, 12:02 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Marshall | 43 min |
| Sep 1, 12:24 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Pennington, Red Lake | 51 min |
| Sep 1, 12:52 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Norman, Polk | 38 min |
| Sep 1, 1:16 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Roseau | 29 min |
| Sep 1, 1:50 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Beltrami | 40 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 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.