Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 660

July 6, 20036 counties in Iowa; 36 counties in Minnesota; 31 counties in South Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 6, 2003, 7:45 PM CDT for 6 counties in Iowa; 36 counties in Minnesota; 31 counties in South Dakota. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 6, 2003, 7:45 PM CDT (00:45 UTC)
Expired
Jul 7, 2003, 2:00 AM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 73 counties

Clay County, IA, Dickinson County, IA, Lyon County, IA, O'Brien County, IA, Osceola County, IA, Sioux County, IA, Anoka County, MN, Benton County, MN, Big Stone County, MN, Brown County, MN, Carver County, MN, Chippewa County, MN, Chisago County, MN, Cottonwood County, MN, Hennepin County, MN, Isanti County, MN, Jackson County, MN, Kandiyohi County, MN, Lac qui Parle County, MN, Lincoln County, MN, Lyon County, MN, Martin County, MN, McLeod County, MN, Meeker County, MN, Mille Lacs County, MN, Murray County, MN, Nicollet County, MN, Nobles County, MN, Pipestone County, MN, Pope County, MN, Redwood County, MN, Renville County, MN, Rock County, MN, Sherburne County, MN, Sibley County, MN, Stearns County, MN, Stevens County, MN, Swift County, MN, Traverse County, MN, Watonwan County, MN, Wright County, MN, Yellow Medicine County, MN, Aurora County, SD, Beadle County, SD, Bon Homme County, SD, Brookings County, SD, Brule County, SD, Charles Mix County, SD, Clark County, SD, Codington County, SD, Davison County, SD, Day County, SD, Deuel County, SD, Douglas County, SD, Grant County, SD, Gregory County, SD, Hamlin County, SD, Hanson County, SD, Hutchinson County, SD, Jerauld County, SD, Kingsbury County, SD, Lake County, SD, Lincoln County, SD, Marshall County, SD, McCook County, SD, Miner County, SD, Minnehaha County, SD, Moody County, SD, Roberts County, SD, Sanborn County, SD, Spink County, SD, Turner County, SD, Yankton County, SD

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 7, 1:30 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMPXChippewa, Kandiyohi45 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

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 137 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 2003-07-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 991 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Aberdeen, SD at 00:00Z on 2003-07-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 74 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
991 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-113 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1530 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
74 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
439 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
8.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 070044
SEL0  
SPC WW 070045
IAZ000-MNZ000-SDZ000-070700-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 660 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
745 PM CDT SUN JUL 6 2003

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

       NORTHWEST IOWA
       CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA
       EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY MORNING FROM 745 PM UNTIL
200 AM 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 125 STATUTE MILES EAST AND
WEST OF A LINE FROM 60 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF MITCHELL SOUTH
DAKOTA TO 20 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF ALEXANDRIA 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 656...WW 657...WW 658...WW
659...


DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TO SLOWLY DEVELOP SWD INTO W
CNTRL AND PERHAPS W MN ALONG PREFRONTAL TROUGH ASSOCIATED WITH NRN
STREAM IMPULSE CROSSING MANITOBA.  OTHER STORMS MAY FORM LATER THIS
EVENING INVOF DEVELOPING SURFACE TRIPLE POINT IN ERN SD.  STORMS MAY
ALSO BUILD NEWD WITH TIME FROM NE NEB AS SRN STREAM IMPULSE NOW IN
WRN PART OF STATE BEGINS TO AFFECT REGION.  ENTIRE WW AREA SHOULD
HAVE SUFFICIENT DEEP SHEAR/INSTABILITY TO SUPPORT SUPERCELLS WITH
LARGE HAIL/HIGH WINDS AND...GIVEN WEAK BUT BACKED LOW LEVEL
WINDS...A COUPLE TORNADOES.

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 600.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 28030.


...CORFIDI

425,1000 455,0973 455,0922 425,0950

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 6, 8:57 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Adams, Audubon, Boone, Buena Vista, Calhoun and 35 more3 hr
Jul 6, 9:20 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAdair, Adams, Appanoose, Audubon, Boone, Buena Vista and 62 more6 hr
Jul 6, 11:06 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Adams, Appanoose, Audubon, Boone, Buena Vista and 62 more114 min
Jul 7, 1:25 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler and 16 more95 min
Jul 7, 2:40 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAllamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Chickasaw and 12 more4 hr
Jul 7, 4:22 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllamakee, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Chickasaw, Clayton and 5 more83 min
Jul 7, 6:23 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCedar, Clinton, Delaware, Dubuque, Iowa, Jackson and 5 more97 min
Jul 7, 12:14 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClinton, Des Moines, Lee, Louisa, Muscatine, Scott61 min
Jul 7, 2:35 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllamakee, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque115 min
Jul 7, 3:30 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Adams, Appanoose, Audubon, Benton, Cass and 31 more3 hr
Jul 7, 3:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAdair, Adams, Audubon, Benton, Cass, Cedar and 29 more5 hr
Jul 6, 8:05 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAitkin, Carlton, Cass, Cook, Crow Wing, Itasca and 6 more6 hr
Jul 6, 10:31 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAitkin, Carlton, Cook, Crow Wing, Kanabec, Morrison and 2 more119 min
Jul 7, 2:56 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAnoka, Benton, Carver, Chisago, Dakota, Hennepin and 9 more2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2003Tornado Watches in South Dakota, 2003Tornado Watches in Iowa, 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.