Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 7, 2002Otter Tail County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 7, 2002, 2:20 PM CDT for Otter Tail County, Minnesota. It was in force for 25 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: Jul 7, 2002, 2:20 PM CDT (19:20 UTC)
Expired: Jul 7, 2002, 2:45 PM CDT
In force: 25 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Otter Tail County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 207 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:22 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 7, 2:45 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Wrightstown, 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

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 206 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: 579 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -140 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1033 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 18 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.

000 
WFUS53 KFGF 071920
TORFAR
MNC111-071945-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
219 PM CDT SUN JUL 7 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  OTTER TAIL COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA.

* UNTIL 245 PM CDT.

* AT 215 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 3 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
  WRIGHTSTOWN...OR ABOUT 39 MILES EAST OF FERGUS FALLS...MOVEMENT WAS
  TO THE NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...

  WRIGHTSTOWN AT 220 PM.

A LARGE FUNNEL CONTINUES TO BEEN SEEN 9 MILES NORTH OF PARKERS 
PRAIRIE.

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 4627 9541 4614 9522 4627 9516 4645 9518


30
NNNN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 7, 10:35 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FGF	Marshall	6 hr
Jul 7, 1:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Otter Tail	46 min
Jul 7, 1:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Beltrami, Lake of the Woods	43 min
Jul 7, 2:49 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Otter Tail	41 min
Jul 7, 5:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Otter Tail	48 min
Jul 7, 6:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Wadena	47 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.