Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 32, NWS Grand Forks, ND

August 28, 2002Cass County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Aug 28, 2002, 7:42 PM CDT for Cass County, North Dakota. 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 28, 2002, 7:42 PM CDT (00:42 UTC)
Expired
Aug 28, 2002, 8:30 PM CDT
In force
48 min
Issued by
NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Cass County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 73 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:45 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 28, 8:05 PM CDTTornado F0Lynchburg, NDA brief touchdown broke off several large tree tops.

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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Aug 28, 5:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 236 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 2002-08-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 948 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 2002-08-29The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -21 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
948 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-90 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1709 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
20 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.

753 
WFUS53 KFGF 290042
TORFAR
NDC017-290130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
742 PM CDT WED AUG 28 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  SOUTHERN CASS COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA.

* UNTIL 830 PM CDT.

* AT 740 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION OVER WHEATLAND...OR ABOUT
  25 MILES WEST OF FARGO...MOVEMENT WAS TO THE SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...

  CASSELTON AT 755 PM...
  DURBIN AT 810 PM AND
  DAVENPORT AT 830 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 1000 PM WEDNESDAY
EVENING FOR NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA AND SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA.

LAT...LON 4702 9737 4687 9752 4665 9716 4680 9692


8

NNNN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 28, 8:05 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningFGFCass6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 2002Every tornado warning in 2002Tornadoes 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.