Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 2002

Tornado Watch 441

June 19, 200221 counties in Minnesota; 5 counties in North Dakota; 10 counties in South Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 19, 2002, 3:00 PM CDT for 21 counties in Minnesota; 5 counties in North Dakota; 10 counties in South Dakota. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 19, 2002, 3:00 PM CDT (20:00 UTC)
Expired: Jun 19, 2002, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 36 counties

Becker County, MN, Big Stone County, MN, Cass County, MN, Chippewa County, MN, Clay County, MN, Clearwater County, MN, Douglas County, MN, Grant County, MN, Hubbard County, MN, Lac qui Parle County, MN, Mahnomen County, MN, Norman County, MN, Otter Tail County, MN, Pope County, MN, Stevens County, MN, Swift County, MN, Todd County, MN, Traverse County, MN, Wadena County, MN, Wilkin County, MN, Yellow Medicine County, MN, Cass County, ND, Ransom County, ND, Richland County, ND, Sargent County, ND, Traill County, ND, Brown County, SD, Clark County, SD, Codington County, SD, Day County, SD, Deuel County, SD, Grant County, SD, Hamlin County, SD, Marshall County, SD, Roberts County, SD, Spink County, SD

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 120 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:01 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 19, 7:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Swift	28 min
Jun 19, 7:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Stevens	23 min
Jun 19, 7:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Douglas, Todd	45 min
Jun 19, 7:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Pope	42 min

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 151 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: 1707 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -113 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1094 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 68 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 138 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 267 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 191951
SEL1  
SPC WW 191947
MNZ000-NDZ000-SDZ000-200100-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 441
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
247 PM CDT WED JUN 19 2002

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   WESTERN MINNESOTA                          
   SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA                       
   NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA                       

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 300 PM UNTIL
800 PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 85 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES SOUTH OF WATERTOWN SOUTH DAKOTA TO 70 MILES
NORTHEAST OF FARGO NORTH DAKOTA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND 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.


DISCUSSION...AIR MASS CONTINUES TO DESTABILIZE WITH A WEAKENING CAP
AHEAD OF SURFACE TROUGH/COLD FRONT NOW MOVING INTO ERN ND/CENTRAL
SD.  SHEAR PROFILES WILL REMAIN STRONG AND SUPPORTIVE OF
SUPERCELLS.  GIVEN THE STRENGTH OF THE SHEAR IN THE LOWER TO MID
LEVELS AND LOWER CLOUD BASES...A FEW TORNADOES MAY ALSO ACCOMPANY
STORMS INTO THE EARLY EVENING.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 22040.


...EVANS

473,0935 443,0952 443,0985 473,0973

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 19, 5:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted and 2 more	5 hr
Jun 19, 5:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Big Stone, Douglas, Grant, Kandiyohi, Otter Tail, Pope and 6 more	4 hr
Jun 19, 5:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Beltrami, Koochiching, Pennington, Red Lake, Roseau, Saint Louis	5 hr
Jun 19, 6:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Cottonwood, Lincoln, Lyon, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone and 2 more	5 hr
Jun 18, 8:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Butte, Harding, Perkins, Ziebach	4 hr
Jun 19, 1:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Brown, Butte, Campbell, Corson, Dewey, Edmunds and 10 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2002 Tornado Watches in South Dakota, 2002 Tornado Watches in North Dakota, 2002 Every tornado 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.