Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 2003
Tornado Watch 656
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 6, 2003, 2:20 PM CDT for 17 counties in Minnesota; Ransom County, Richland County, Sargent County, North Dakota. It was in force for 8 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Jul 6, 2003, 2:20 PM CDT (19:20 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 6, 2003, 10:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 8 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
Counties Aitkin County, MN, Becker County, MN, Beltrami County, MN, Cass County, MN, Clay County, MN, Clearwater County, MN, Crow Wing County, MN, Hubbard County, MN, Itasca County, MN, Koochiching County, MN, Mahnomen County, MN, Norman County, MN, Otter Tail County, MN, Saint Louis County, MN, Todd County, MN, Wadena County, MN, Wilkin County, MN, Ransom County, ND, Richland County, ND, Sargent County, ND
The radar
The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 164 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:20 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
21 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 6, 2:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DLH | Koochiching | 43 min |
| Jul 6, 2:38 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DLH | Koochiching | 37 min |
| Jul 6, 3:21 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DLH | Koochiching | 24 min |
| Jul 6, 3:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DLH | Koochiching | 53 min |
| Jul 6, 4:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DLH | Saint Louis | 59 min |
| Jul 6, 4:55 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Beltrami | 65 min |
| Jul 6, 5:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Clearwater | 66 min |
| Jul 6, 5:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DLH | Saint Louis | 62 min |
| Jul 6, 5:15 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FGF | Beltrami | 45 min |
| Jul 6, 5:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DLH | Itasca | 34 min |
| Jul 6, 5:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Beltrami, Hubbard | 62 min |
| Jul 6, 6:24 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DLH | Cass, Itasca | 51 min |
| Jul 6, 6:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DLH | Koochiching, Saint Louis | 64 min |
| Jul 6, 6:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DLH | Cass, Itasca | 30 min |
| Jul 6, 6:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Otter Tail | 40 min |
| Jul 6, 7:22 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | FGF | Otter Tail | 38 min |
| Jul 6, 7:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGF | Hubbard, Wadena | 44 min |
| Jul 6, 7:59 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DLH | Itasca, Saint Louis | 61 min |
| Jul 6, 8:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Douglas, Todd | 63 min |
| Jul 6, 9:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DLH | Lake, Saint Louis | 21 min |
| Jul 6, 9:43 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DLH | Saint Louis | 17 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
Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 274 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 735 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -63 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1169 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 11 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -24 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -10 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 061919
SEL6
SPC WW 061920
MNZ000-NDZ000-070300-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 656
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
220 PM CDT SUN JUL 6 2003
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
NORTHERN MINNESOTA
FAR SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA
EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 220 PM UNTIL 1000
PM CDT.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 100 STATUTE MILES EAST AND
WEST OF A LINE FROM 65 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF FARGO NORTH DAKOTA
TO 55 MILES NORTHWEST OF ELY MINNESOTA.
REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND 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.
OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 653...WW 654...WW 655...
DISCUSSION...LARGE SCALE ASCENT IS INCREASING OVER NRN MN/ERN ND
AHEAD OF STRONG SHORTWAVE TROUGH APPROACHING THE NRN PLAINS. THE
AIR MASS IS VERY UNSTABLE WITH SUFFICIENT LOW AND DEEP LAYER SHEAR
FOR TORNADIC SUPERCELLS. ACTIVITY IS CURRENTLY DEVELOPING NEAR LAKE
BREEZE/WARM FRONT INTERSECTIONS IN NERN MN...THOUGH RAPID
DEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED ALONG COLD FRONT OVER THE NEXT 1-2 HOURS AS
CAP BREAKS INTO NRN MN AND POSSIBLY FAR SERN ND.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 26020.
...EVANS
460,0982 482,0945 482,0903 460,0941SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 5, 8:04 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brown, Chippewa, Cottonwood, Jackson, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln and 9 more | 86 min |
| Jul 6, 4:08 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Beltrami, Clearwater, Koochiching, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake | 2 hr |
| Jul 6, 5:17 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Dodge, Goodhue, Houston, Olmsted, Wabasha, Winona | 118 min |
| Jul 6, 12:56 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Aitkin, Carlton, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake of the Woods, Saint Louis | 109 min |
| Jul 6, 1:40 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Becker, Beltrami, Clay, Clearwater, Mahnomen, Marshall and 4 more | 3 hr |
| Jul 6, 4:56 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Benton, Big Stone, Chippewa, Kanabec, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle and 15 more | 2 hr |
| Jul 6, 5:29 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Aitkin, Becker, Beltrami, Cass, Clay, Clearwater and 11 more | 2 hr |
| Jul 6, 6:54 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Anoka, Benton, Carlton, Chisago, Cook, Douglas and 14 more | 4 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2003Tornado Watches in North Dakota, 2003Every tornado 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.