Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 20, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 14, 2003Polk County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 14, 2003, 5:58 PM CDT for Polk County, Minnesota. It was in force for 47 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 14, 2003, 5:58 PM CDT (22:58 UTC)
Expired: Jul 14, 2003, 6:45 PM CDT
In force: 47 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), 67 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:00 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jul 14, 2:35 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 255 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: 93 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -353 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1491 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 43 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 116 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 
WFUS53 KFGF 142258
TORFGF
MNC119-142345-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
558 PM CDT MON JUL 14 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  WESTERN POLK COUNTY IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

* UNTIL 645 PM CDT.

* AT 555 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 2 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
  EUCLID...OR ABOUT 21 MILES EAST OF GRAND FORKS...MOVEMENT WAS TO
  THE SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...

  EUCLID AT 600 PM
  GENTILLY AT 620 PM

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO
ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDY BUILDING.

LAT...LON 4806 9656 4798 9680 4763 9661 4763 9644
          4777 9647

$$

8

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 13, 10:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Norman	57 min
Jul 14, 2:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Kittson	66 min
Jul 14, 3:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods	41 min
Jul 14, 4:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Kittson	45 min
Jul 14, 4:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods, Roseau	40 min
Jul 14, 4:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Marshall	49 min
Jul 14, 4:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods	42 min
Jul 14, 5:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Polk	44 min
Jul 14, 6:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Red Lake	45 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 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.