Alert archive / Minnesota / Mesoscale Discussions in 2003

Mesoscale Discussion 2182

August 18, 2003Dickinson County, Lyon County, Osceola County, Iowa; 36 counties in Minnesota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Aug 18, 2003, 5:32 PM CDT for Dickinson County, Lyon County, Osceola County, Iowa; 36 counties in Minnesota. It was in force for 118 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Aug 18, 2003, 5:32 PM CDT (22:32 UTC)
Expired: Aug 18, 2003, 7:30 PM CDT
In force: 118 min
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 39 counties

Dickinson County, IA, Lyon County, IA, Osceola County, IA, Becker County, MN, Beltrami County, MN, Big Stone County, MN, Brown County, MN, Cass County, MN, Chippewa County, MN, Clay County, MN, Clearwater County, MN, Cottonwood County, MN, Douglas County, MN, Grant County, MN, Hubbard County, MN, Jackson County, MN, Kandiyohi County, MN, Lac qui Parle County, MN, Lincoln County, MN, Lyon County, MN, Mahnomen County, MN, Meeker County, MN, Morrison County, MN, Murray County, MN, Nobles County, MN, Otter Tail County, MN, Pipestone County, MN, Pope County, MN, Redwood County, MN, Renville County, MN, Rock County, MN, Stearns County, MN, Stevens County, MN, Swift County, MN, Todd County, MN, Traverse County, MN, Wadena County, MN, Wilkin County, MN, Yellow Medicine County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 170 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:30 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

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 167 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: 964 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -320 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1234 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 99 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 180 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

131 
ACUS11 KWNS 182232
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 182232 
MNZ000-IAZ000-SDZ000-190030-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 2182
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0532 PM CDT MON AUG 18 2003

AREAS AFFECTED...NWRN IA THROUGH WRN/CNTRL MN

CONCERNING...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL 

VALID 182232Z - 190030Z

STORMS OVER ERN NEB INTO NWRN IA MAY TRY TO DEVELOP NEWD INTO PARTS
OF WRN MN. IF STORMS CAN PERSIST AS THEY DEVELOP NEWD...POTENTIAL
FOR ISOLATED DAMAGING WIND AND LARGE HAIL WOULD EXIST. PORTIONS OF
WRN/CNTRL MN WILL CONTINUE TO BE MONITORED.

SCATTERED STORMS CONTINUE DEVELOPING NEWD OUT OF ERN NEB INTO NWRN
IA AND ARE NOW BEGINNING TO DEVELOP NEWD INTO EXTREME SWRN MN. THE
ATMOSPHERE ACROSS WRN/CNTRL MN REMAINS VERY UNSTABLE WITH MLCAPES
NEAR 3000 J/KG AND STEEP LAPSE RATES. HOWEVER...STRONGER FOCUSING
MECHANISMS AND FORCING FOR ASCENT SUCH AS THE VORT MAX LIFTING NWD
INTO ND AND SURFACE BOUNDARIES FROM THE DAKOTAS THROUGH NEB ARE
EXPECTED TO REMAIN W OF MN. LACK OF FOCUSING MECHANISMS LOWERS
CONFIDENCE THAT STORMS WILL BE ABLE TO ORGANIZE OR MAINTAIN THEIR
INTENSITY AS THEY DEVELOP NEWD GIVEN MODEST CAP IN PLACE.

..DIAL.. 08/18/2003

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...DLH...MPX...DMX...FGF...FSD...ABR...

43389637 47229656 48159533 47289400 43219477

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 18, 2:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Buena Vista, Cherokee, Crawford, Harrison, Ida, Monona and 3 more	5 hr
Aug 18, 6:19 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adair, Adams, Audubon, Buena Vista, Calhoun, Carroll and 18 more	86 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Minnesota, 2003 Mesoscale Discussions in Iowa, 2003 Every mesoscale discussion 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.