Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 182, NWS Grand Forks, ND

September 17, 2003Polk County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 17, 2003, 1:08 AM CDT for Polk County, Minnesota. It was in force for 37 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: Sep 17, 2003, 1:08 AM CDT (06:08 UTC)
Expired: Sep 17, 2003, 1:45 AM CDT
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Polk County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 50 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:10 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.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The nearest sounding before it

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 00:00Z, 6.1 hours before the alert went out and 271 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: 2405 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 123 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 
WUUS53 KFGF 170608
SVRFGF
MNC119-170645-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
107 AM CDT WED SEP 17 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...

  WESTERN POLK COUNTY IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 145 AM CDT.

* AT 105 AM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 3 MILES WEST OF ELDRED...OR ABOUT 20 MILES
  SOUTHEAST OF GRAND FORKS...MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...

  ELDRED AT 110 AM...
  GREENVIEW AT 120 AM...
  FISHER AT 125 AM AND
  CROOKSTON AT 135 AM.

REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE
TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.

LAT...LON 4779 9691 4757 9685 4762 9642 4802 9667

$$

VOELKER/04

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 Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Sep 16, 8:35 PM CDT, 4 hours 33 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 16, 8:35 PM CDT, 4 hours 33 minutes before

FORECAST DISCUSSION FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
835 PM CDT TUE SEP 16 2003

FORECAST CHALLENGE CONCERNS PCPN CHANCES AND TEMPERATURES.

BROAD PRESSURE FALLS OVER ND AHEAD OF SURFACE LOW CURRENTLY OVER
WESTERN SD. ASSOCIATED SURFACE WARM FRONT LIFTING INTO SOUTHERN ND
WITH 60 DEGREE DEWPOINTS NOSING INTO FAR SOUTHERN FA. KMVX-88D VAD
WIND PROFILE INDICATING WIND IN LOWER GATES INCREASING TO 40KT AND
BECOMING MORE SOUTHERLY. SURFACE LOW AND ASSOCIATED WARM FRONT TO
CONTINUE TO LIFT NORTHWARD OVERNIGHT. UPSTREAM KBIS-88D INDICATING
BAND OF SHRA/TSRA LIFTING NE. WITH STRONG ISENTROPIC LIFT AND LOWEST
CONDENSATION PRESSURE DEFICITS OVER FAR NORTH WILL CONTINUE TREND OF
BEST CHANCES FOR ELEVATED CONVECTION THIS AREA OVERNIGHT WITH ISOLD
SEVERE NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION. REGION TO REMAIN IN WARM SECTOR
OVERNIGHT AND WITH CONTINUED MOIST FLUX AND WIND TEMPERATURES TO
HOLD UP. WILL TAKE A LAST LOOK HOWEVER MAY NOSE TEMPERATURES UP
SLIGHTLY ESPECIALLY OVER SOUTHERN AREAS.

.FGF...NONE.

VOELEKR

Hazardous weather outlook, Sep 16, 6:15 AM CDT, 18 hours 53 minutes before

MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024-
026>030-038-039-049-052>054-161400-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
615 AM CDT TUE SEP 16 2003

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS NORTHEASTERN NORTH
DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA LATE TONIGHT...

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MAY OCCUR AGAIN ON WEDNESDAY ACROSS
NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST
CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AFTER MIDNIGHT ACROSS
NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA. THE MAIN THREAT WILL
BE LARGE HAIL FROM AROUND MIDNIGHT UNTIL 6 AM.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON
ACROSS NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA. THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE
LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND FROM 1 PM UNTIL 7 PM WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATER TONIGHT AND AGAIN WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON.

KELLENBENZ

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 17, 1:01 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods	29 min
Sep 17, 1:37 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Pennington, Red Lake	38 min
Sep 17, 2:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Beltrami, Marshall	30 min
Sep 17, 11:38 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Wilkin	37 min
Sep 17, 12:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Otter Tail	33 min
Sep 17, 1:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Becker	39 min
Sep 17, 1:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Polk	37 min
Sep 17, 5:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods	34 min
Sep 17, 5:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Marshall	28 min
Sep 17, 5:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Marshall	13 min
Sep 17, 6:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Roseau	26 min
Sep 17, 6:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods	34 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.