Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 2002
Tornado Warning 35, NWS Grand Forks, ND
NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Sep 18, 2002, 6:16 PM CDT for Clay County, Minnesota. It was in force for 44 min. 5 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
- Sep 18, 2002, 6:16 PM CDT (23:16 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 18, 2002, 7:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 44 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), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:19 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 18, 6:17 PM CDT | Hail 2.75 | Comstock, MN | |
| Sep 18, 6:22 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Sabin, MN | |
| Sep 18, 6:40 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Baker, MN | The hail broke windows and damaged the siding, trim, and gutters on a house. |
| Sep 18, 6:57 PM CDT | Tornado F1 | Downer, MN | A 14x14 foot one thousand pound shed door was torn off a barn and thrown 150 feet on top of a 24 foot high grain bin. Calf pens were also flipped over. |
| Sep 18, 7:08 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Downer, 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 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 259 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
- 613 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -190 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 786 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 60 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 53 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
980 WFUS53 KFGF 182316 TORFAR MNC027-190000- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS 616 PM CDT WED SEP 18 2002 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... CLAY COUNTY IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. * UNTIL 700 PM CDT. * AT 614 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 5 MILES WEST OF BAKER...OR ABOUT 14 MILES SOUTHEAST OF FARGO...MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH. * THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR... SABIN AT 620 PM... DILWORTH AT 630 PM... DOWNER AT 635 PM AND GLYNDON AT 640 PM. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDY BUILDING. LAT...LON 4665 9675 4664 9621 4712 9622 4711 9675 55 NNNN
The office that day
Everything else NWS Grand Forks, ND issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 18, 5:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Clay | 47 min |
| Sep 18, 5:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Wilkin | 38 min |
| Sep 18, 5:53 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Norman | 52 min |
| Sep 18, 6:19 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | FGF | Kittson | 6 hr |
| Sep 18, 6:58 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FGF | Clay | 47 min |
| Sep 18, 6:58 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FGF | Clay | 47 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 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.