Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 28, NWS Grand Forks, ND

August 26, 2002Clay County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Aug 26, 2002, 7:38 PM CDT for Clay County, Minnesota. It was in force for 52 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 26, 2002, 7:38 PM CDT (00:38 UTC)
Expired: Aug 26, 2002, 8:30 PM CDT
In force: 52 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Clay County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 91 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:40 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, 8:05 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Ulen, 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 280 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: 2016 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1595 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -23 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 31 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.

607 
WFUS53 KFGF 270038
TORFAR
MNC027-270130-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  NORTHEASTERN CLAY COUNTY IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

* UNTIL 830 PM CDT.

* AT 735 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 6 MILES EAST OF AVERILL...
  OR ABOUT 20 MILES EAST OF FARGO...MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTHEAST AT
  25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...

  HITTERDAL AT 750 PM AND
  ULEN AT 755 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 MONDAY
EVENING FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA.

LAT...LON 4697 9659 4684 9640 4695 9620 4713 9621
          4714 9638


8

NNNN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 26, 7:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods	46 min
Aug 26, 7:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Becker	46 min
Aug 26, 7:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Becker	47 min
Aug 26, 8:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Otter Tail	51 min
Aug 26, 11:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Polk	42 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.