Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Grand Forks, ND

June 21, 2003Nelson County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jun 21, 2003, 8:41 PM CDT for Nelson County, North Dakota. It was in force for 34 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: Jun 21, 2003, 8:41 PM CDT (01:41 UTC)
Expired: Jun 21, 2003, 9:15 PM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Nelson County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 92 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:40 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
Jun 21, 2:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr
Jun 21, 6:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 00:00Z, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 239 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: 527 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -152 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1228 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 59 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 182 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 2.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

472 
WFUS53 KFGF 220141
TORFGF
NDC063-220215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
841 PM CDT SAT JUN 21 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  NORTH CENTRAL NELSON COUNTY IN NORTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA.

* UNTIL 915 PM CDT.

* AT 835 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF
  MICHIGAN...OR ABOUT 32 MILES EAST OF DEVILS LAKE...MOVEMENT WAS TO
  THE NORTH AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...

  WHITMAN AT 850 PM.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO THE SAFEST PLACE IS A BASEMENT.
GET UNDER A STAIRWAY OR A PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM SATURDAY
EVENING FOR NORTHWEST MINNESOTA AND EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA. A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WATCH ALSO REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 200 AM SUNDAY MORNING
FOR NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA AND EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA.

LAT...LON 4806 9836 4800 9810 4820 9796 4819 9826

$$

HOPPES

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 21, 7:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Eddy	44 min
Jun 21, 7:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson, Ramsey	51 min
Jun 21, 7:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Nelson	49 min
Jun 21, 8:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Griggs, Steele	44 min
Jun 21, 8:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Barnes	49 min
Jun 21, 8:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Ramsey, Walsh	42 min
Jun 21, 8:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Nelson	24 min
Jun 21, 8:26 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Ramsey, Walsh	49 min
Jun 21, 8:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cass	64 min
Jun 21, 9:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Ransom, Richland, Sargent	65 min
Jun 21, 9:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Grand Forks, Traill	23 min
Jun 22, 3:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cass, Ransom, Richland	37 min
Jun 22, 6:03 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FGF	Cass, Richland	12 hr

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.