Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 621

July 2, 200310 counties in Minnesota; Bayfield County, Douglas County, Wisconsin

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Jul 2, 2003, 2:40 PM CDT for 10 counties in Minnesota; Bayfield County, Douglas County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 2, 2003, 2:40 PM CDT (19:40 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 2003, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Aitkin County, MN, Carlton County, MN, Cass County, MN, Crow Wing County, MN, Hubbard County, MN, Itasca County, MN, Koochiching County, MN, Lake County, MN, Lake of the Woods County, MN, Saint Louis County, MN, Bayfield County, WI, Douglas County, WI

The radar

The Duluth radar (KDLH), 134 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:42 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.

Warnings issued inside it

16 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 2, 3:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard	59 min
Jul 2, 3:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DLH	Cass, Itasca, Koochiching	52 min
Jul 2, 4:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Hubbard	45 min
Jul 2, 4:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DLH	Cass, Itasca	55 min
Jul 2, 4:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DLH	Koochiching	60 min
Jul 2, 5:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DLH	Saint Louis	60 min
Jul 2, 5:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DLH	Aitkin	57 min
Jul 2, 5:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DLH	Cass	63 min
Jul 2, 5:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Becker, Hubbard	61 min
Jul 2, 6:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DLH	Saint Louis	59 min
Jul 2, 6:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DLH	Cass	59 min
Jul 2, 6:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DLH	Cass	57 min
Jul 2, 6:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DLH	Aitkin, Itasca	65 min
Jul 2, 6:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DLH	Cass, Crow Wing	62 min
Jul 2, 7:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DLH	Carlton, Saint Louis	45 min
Jul 2, 7:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DLH	Cass, Crow Wing	64 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 12:00Z, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 87 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: 774 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -221 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 740 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 98 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 182 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 021940
SEL1  
SPC WW 021940
MNZ000-WIZ000-LSZ000-030100-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 621 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
240 PM CDT WED JUL 2 2003

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       NORTHERN MINNESOTA
       NORTHWEST WISCONSIN
       LAKE SUPERIOR

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 240 PM UNTIL
800 PM CDT.

HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 80
MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 85 STATUTE MILES
NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 15 MILES NORTH OF BEMIDJI MINNESOTA
TO 65 MILES SOUTHEAST OF ELY MINNESOTA.

REMEMBER...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE
FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE
TORNADOES.


OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 619...WW 620...


DISCUSSION...WELL ORGANIZED SEVERE MCS MOVING RAPIDLY EWD ACROSS
NWRN MN.  WITH A VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS ACROSS MN...CONDITIONS REMAIN
FAVORABLE FOR DAMAGING WINDS WITH THE SEVERAL SMALL BOWS/LINE
SEGMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MCS.

AVIATION...A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT
TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 70
KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550. MEAN STORM
MOTION VECTOR 26040.


...HALES

485,0945 482,0905 460,0905 462,0945

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 2, 11:00 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Kittson, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake	60 min
Jul 2, 11:20 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Becker, Clay, Clearwater, Kittson, Mahnomen, Marshall and 7 more	6 hr
Jul 2, 1:27 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Aitkin, Becker, Beltrami, Cass, Clay, Clearwater and 18 more	2 hr
Jul 2, 3:30 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Benton, Big Stone, Chippewa, Douglas, Grant, Kandiyohi and 13 more	2 hr
Jul 2, 5:14 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Aitkin, Anoka, Benton, Carlton, Cass, Chisago and 14 more	61 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Minnesota, 2003 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Wisconsin, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm watch 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.