Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 38, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 31, 2002Ramsey County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 31, 2002, 7:36 PM CDT for Ramsey County, North Dakota. It was in force for 39 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Jul 31, 2002, 7:36 PM CDT (00:36 UTC)
Expired: Jul 31, 2002, 8:15 PM CDT
In force: 39 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Whole counties

County Ramsey County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 133 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:36 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
Jul 31, 7:40 PM CDT	Hail 1	Devils Lake, ND
Jul 31, 7:40 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Devils Lake, ND	A funnel cloud was also reported.

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
Jul 31, 3:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 223 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: 1400 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -53 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2219 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 39 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 144 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

878 
WFUS53 KFGF 010036
TORFAR
NDC071-010115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
736 PM CDT WED JUL 31 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  RAMSEY COUNTY IN NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA.

* UNTIL 815 PM CDT.

* AT 731 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 3 MILES EAST OF DEVILS
  LAKE...MOVEMENT WAS TO THE EAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...

  CRARY AT 755 PM AND
  SOUTHAM AT 805 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 100 AM THURSDAY
MORNING FOR NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA AND EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA. A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WATCH ALSO REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM WEDNESDAY
EVENING FOR NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA.

LAT...LON 4820 9890 4803 9894 4801 9855 4821 9848


30
NNNN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 31, 7:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Ramsey	42 min
Jul 31, 7:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cavalier	41 min
Jul 31, 7:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson	42 min
Jul 31, 7:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Walsh	50 min
Jul 31, 8:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Grand Forks	54 min
Jul 31, 8:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Nelson	51 min
Jul 31, 8:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Walsh	49 min
Jul 31, 11:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Eddy	49 min
Aug 1, 12:09 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Griggs	51 min
Aug 1, 12:40 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Barnes, Steele, Traill	50 min
Aug 1, 12:53 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cass	37 min
Aug 1, 1:33 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cass	42 min
Aug 1, 1:37 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Barnes	23 min
Aug 1, 2:11 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cass	49 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 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.