Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 16, NWS Bismarck, ND

July 20, 2003Dickey County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 20, 2003, 2:50 AM CDT for Dickey County, North Dakota. It was in force for 25 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 20, 2003, 2:50 AM CDT (07:50 UTC)
Expired: Jul 20, 2003, 3:15 AM CDT
In force: 25 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Dickey County, ND

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:52 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 139 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: 2126 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -46 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2042 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 35 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 145 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

662 
WFUS53 KBIS 200750
TORBIS
NDC021-200815-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
250 AM CDT SUN JUL 20 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN DICKEY COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 315 AM CDT

* AT 250 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  POSSIBLE TORNADO 7 MILES NORTHWEST OF OAKES...OR ABOUT 54 MILES 
  SOUTHEAST OF JAMESTOWN...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  LUDDEN...GUELPH AT 255 AM CDT

LAT...LON 4627 9808 4620 9833 4595 9829 4599 9805

$$
RSL

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 20, 1:41 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	LaMoure, Stutsman	49 min
Jul 20, 2:26 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	LaMoure	34 min
Jul 20, 2:31 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Stutsman	59 min
Jul 20, 3:18 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	LaMoure	42 min
Jul 20, 3:31 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Stutsman	59 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes in 2003

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.