Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 260, NWS Twin Cities, MN

August 3, 20024 counties in Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 3, 2002, 8:50 PM CDT for 4 counties in Minnesota. It was in force for 55 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 3, 2002, 8:50 PM CDT (01:50 UTC)
Expired: Aug 3, 2002, 9:45 PM CDT
In force: 55 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Blue Earth County, MN, Rice County, MN, Steele County, MN, Waseca County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 87 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:49 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 3, 9:40 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50 E	Owatonna, MN	Several trees down.

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
Aug 3, 3:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr
Aug 3, 6:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 00:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 87 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 777 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -89 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 509 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

939 
WUUS53 KMPX 040150
SVRMSP
MNC013-131-147-161-040245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
848 PM CDT SAT AUG 3 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN THE TWIN CITIES HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  RICE COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA
  SOUTHEAST BLUE EARTH COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA
  WASECA COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA
  STEELE COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 945 PM CDT

* AT 848 PM CDT...RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS 
FROM JUST EAST OF NEW PRAGUE TO KILKENNY TO GOOD THUNDER...MOVING 
SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH.  HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE LIKELY.  THIS 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REPLACES THE WARNING THAT WAS IN EFFECT 
UNTIL 830 PM FOR SIBLEY...BROWN...NICOLLET...BLUE EARTH AND WATONWAN.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED BY THIS STORM INCLUDE...
  MANKATO.
  OWATONNA.
  WASECA.
  FARIBAULT.
  MORRISTOWN.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM WITH DAMAGING WINDS...STAY INDOORS AWAY
FROM WINDOWS.

LAT...LON 4418 9397 4389 9430 4388 9314 4423 9309

The office that day

Everything else NWS Twin Cities, MN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 3, 7:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Le Sueur, Rice, Scott	36 min
Aug 3, 7:26 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MPX	Carver, Dakota, Scott	4 hr
Aug 3, 7:49 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MPX	Sibley	3 hr
Aug 3, 7:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Blue Earth, Brown, Nicollet, Sibley, Watonwan	52 min
Aug 3, 8:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Le Sueur, Scott	42 min
Aug 3, 9:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Dakota	40 min
Aug 3, 9:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Goodhue	39 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 2002 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.