Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 17, NWS Grand Forks, ND

August 8, 2002Polk County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Aug 8, 2002, 8:12 PM CDT for Polk County, Minnesota. It was in force for 48 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: Aug 8, 2002, 8:12 PM CDT (01:12 UTC)
Expired: Aug 8, 2002, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 48 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), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:13 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 8, 8:30 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Eldred, MN	A large tree was blown over.

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.

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 8, 3:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 00:00Z, 1.2 hours before the alert went out and 317 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: 863 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -27 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1927 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 20 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 49 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

074 
WFUS53 KFGF 090112
TORFAR
MNC119-090200-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  WESTERN POLK COUNTY IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

* UNTIL 900 PM CDT.

* AT 808 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 3 MILES NORTHWEST OF
  NIELSVILLE...OR ABOUT 27 MILES SOUTHEAST OF GRAND FORKS...MOVEMENT
  WAS TO THE EAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...

  CLIMAX AT 820 PM...
  ELDRED AT 825 PM...
  FISHER AT 835 PM AND
  GREENVIEW AT 855 PM.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO
ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDY BUILDING.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM THURSDAY
EVENING FOR NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA AND EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA.

LAT...LON 4779 9693 4752 9683 4751 9645 4797 9657


77

NNNN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 8, 7:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Roseau	41 min
Aug 8, 7:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Polk	44 min
Aug 8, 8:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Polk	49 min
Aug 8, 9:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Marshall	46 min
Aug 8, 10:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Beltrami, Lake of the Woods	47 min
Aug 8, 10:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Kittson	39 min
Aug 9, 12:08 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Roseau	52 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 2002 Every tornado warning in 2002 Tornadoes 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.