Alert archive / South Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 129, NWS Rapid City, SD

August 20, 2002Mellette County, South Dakota

NWS Rapid City, SD issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 20, 2002, 6:20 PM CDT for Mellette County, South Dakota. It was in force for 40 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 20, 2002, 6:20 PM CDT (23:20 UTC)
Expired
Aug 20, 2002, 7:00 PM CDT
In force
40 min
Issued by
NWS Rapid City, SD
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Mellette County, SD

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Aug 20, 2:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Rapid City, SD (KUNR), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 179 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Rapid City, SD at 12:00Z on 2002-08-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 912 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Rapid City, SD at 12:00Z on 2002-08-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 175 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
912 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-674 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1490 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
175 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
115 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Rapid City, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 20, 3:30 PM CDT, 2 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 20, 3:30 PM CDT, 2 hours 50 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR WESTERN SD AND NORTHEASTERN WY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
230 PM MDT TUE AUG 20 2002

A FEW STORMS OVR S CTRL COUNTIES ATTM IN AREA OF BEST INSTABILITY.
AREAS FURTHER W WL KEEP CLD CVR AND LIMIT HEATING REMAINDER OF THIS
AFTN...SO THINK BEST THREAT FOR SEVERE WX WL REMAIN IN S CTRL
COUNTIES WHERE WATCH IS IN EFFECT. A FEW TSMS OVR CTRL WY AS WELL
AND MAY MAKE IT INTO WRN COUNTIES THIS EVE SO INCLUDED 20 POPS
THERE.  EXPECT MORE CLD CVR ACRS AREA AND SOME LO CLDS BEING
INDICATED OVR N AFTER MIDNIGHT. EXPECT LOWS TO BE A GOOD 5 DEG ABV
MOS ACRS CWA. WINDS WL GRADUALLY SHIFT TO THE NE AS SFC LO MOVES
SLOWLY ACRS WRN SD.

WED...WINDS WL BE OUT OF THE NE ACRS CWA AND ALONG WITH MORE CLDS
SHLD KEEP TEMPS IN THE LWR TO MID 80S FOR HIGHS. ETA SHOWING VERY
STRONG AREA OF H25 DIVERGENCE MVG FM NW TO S CTRL SD DURING THE
AFTN. AVN SHOWING THIS A LTL AS WELL BUT DEFINITELY NOT AS STRONG.
WENT WITH 40 POPS ACRS MUCH OF WRN SD AND 30 POPS OVR NE WY AND SW
SD. WED NIGHT WL CONTINUE CHC FOR STORMS WITH S/W MVG THRU AND
BOUNDARY ACRS SRN SD COUNTIES INTO NE WY. LL WINDS WL BE E-NE AND
SHLD HELP SOME LO CLDS TO DVLP AND KEEP TEMPS ONCE AGAIN AROUND 60
FOR LOWS.

THU...ANOTHER S/W WL MOVE ACRS CWA AS SW FLOW ALF CONTINUES ACRS
AREA. DECENT AREA OF LIFT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS WAVE AND THERE WL BE
PLENTY OF MOISTURE AROUND WITH THE SE FLOW. ETA SHOWING CAPES
NEARING 2000 J/KG BY THE AFTERNOON. DECENT SHEAR ALSO FCST SO THREAT
FOR SVR WX LKS GD. ANOTHER S/W WL EJECT OUT OF GREAT BASIN FOR
FRI...BUT SOME DISAGREEMENT ON ITS STRENGTH LKG AT 60 HR ETA AND
AVN...AND WITH SOME DRIER AIR MVG IN THU NIGHT...JUST WENT WITH 20
POPS ACRS WRN CWA.

FOR SAT AND SUN...AVN TRYING TO PUT OUT SOME LT PRECIP BUT WITH WEAK
FLOW AND RDG OVR AREA THINK WE WILL GENERALLY STAY DRY. BY MON AND
TUE...UP LO APPROACHES AREA AND BRINGS BACK ANOTHER CHC FOR STORMS.
THINK TEMPS MAY BE A LTL WARMER THAN WHAT AVN IS SHOWING GIVEN THE
SW FLOW AHEAD OF TROF...SO WARMED TEMPS UP INTO THE 80S THRU MON AND
A BIT COOLER TUE AS LO MOVES OVR ROCKIES.

.UNR...RED FLAG WARNING FOR DRY LIGHTNING FOR FIRE ZONES 297N 297S
298 AND 299...WHICH ARE THE PLAINS OF NORTHEAST WYOMING AND THE
WYOMING BLACK HILLS.
       FIRE WEATHER WATCH FOR DRY LIGHTNING FOR FIRE ZONES 260 AND
262 WHICH IS THE SOUTH DAKOTA BLACK HILLS.
       SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR SOUTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA
UNTIL 7 PM MDT.

JMG

The office that day

Everything else NWS Rapid City, SD issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 20, 6:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRTodd56 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in South Dakota, 2002Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.