Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 613

August 16, 200224 counties in North Dakota; 6 counties in South Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Aug 16, 2002, 2:40 PM MDT for 24 counties in North Dakota; 6 counties in South Dakota. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Aug 16, 2002, 2:40 PM MDT (20:40 UTC)
Expired: Aug 16, 2002, 8:00 PM MDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 30 counties

Adams County, ND, Billings County, ND, Bottineau County, ND, Burke County, ND, Burleigh County, ND, Dunn County, ND, Emmons County, ND, Grant County, ND, Hettinger County, ND, Kidder County, ND, McHenry County, ND, McLean County, ND, Mercer County, ND, Morton County, ND, Mountrail County, ND, Oliver County, ND, Pierce County, ND, Renville County, ND, Rolette County, ND, Sheridan County, ND, Sioux County, ND, Stark County, ND, Ward County, ND, Wells County, ND, Campbell County, SD, Corson County, SD, Dewey County, SD, Harding County, SD, Perkins County, SD, Walworth County, SD

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 87 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:43 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.

Warnings issued inside it

8 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 16, 3:21 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Billings, Golden Valley	54 min
Aug 16, 3:55 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Dunn, Stark	65 min
Aug 16, 4:04 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Adams, Bowman, Hettinger, Slope	56 min
Aug 16, 4:57 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Mercer, Morton, Oliver	63 min
Aug 16, 5:12 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Adams, Grant, Hettinger	63 min
Aug 16, 5:53 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Burleigh, Morton, Sioux	52 min
Aug 16, 6:41 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Emmons	64 min
Aug 16, 6:48 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Campbell, Corson	57 min

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 92 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: 1678 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 176 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 
WWUS20 KWNS 162038
SEL3  
SPC WW 162040
NDZ000-SDZ000-170200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 613
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
340 PM CDT FRI AUG 16 2002

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   NORTH DAKOTA                       
   NORTHWESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA                       

EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 340 PM UNTIL 900
PM CDT.

HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 80
MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 90 STATUTE MILES
EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 60 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF LEMMON
SOUTH DAKOTA TO 55 MILES NORTH OF MINOT NORTH DAKOTA.

REMEMBER...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE
FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE
TORNADOES.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 609...WW 610...WW
611...WW 612...

DISCUSSION...INTENSE TROUGH MOVING RAPIDLY EWD ACROSS MT WITH
INCREASING INSTABILITY ACROSS DAKOTAS AHEAD OF COLD FRONT AND
DEEPENING SURFACE LOW.  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TO INCREASE
RAPIDLY EWD INTO WRN ND AND EXTEND SWD INTO NWRN SD.  PRIMARY
THREAT WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS.


AVIATION...A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT
TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 70
KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.  MEAN STORM
MOTION VECTOR 26040.


...HALES

490,0991 450,0995 450,1033 490,1031

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 16, 12:20 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Billings, Divide, Golden Valley, McKenzie, Williams	6 hr
Aug 16, 5:25 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Barnes, Cass, Dickey, Eddy, Foster, Grand Forks and 11 more	6 hr
Aug 16, 10:55 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Brookings, Clay, Kingsbury, Lake, Lincoln, McCook and 5 more	4 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in North Dakota, 2002 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in South Dakota, 2002 Every severe thunderstorm watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.