Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2004

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 160, NWS Grand Forks, ND

August 26, 2004Sargent County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 26, 2004, 5:05 PM CDT for Sargent County, North Dakota. It was in force for 40 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Aug 26, 2004, 5:05 PM CDT (22:05 UTC)
Expired: Aug 26, 2004, 5:45 PM CDT
In force: 40 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Sargent County, ND

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 80 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:07 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Aug 26, 5:20 PM CDT	HAIL 0.88	4 E Straubville, ND	HAIL COVERING YARD
Aug 26, 5:55 PM CDT	HAIL 0.75	2 Ne Brampton, ND	HAIL COVERING GROUND

Local storm reports filed while the alert was in force, from inside its polygon or its counties.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 136 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: 2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -414 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2071 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -135 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -24 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS53 KFGF 262205
SVRFGF
NDC081-262245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
505 PM CDT THU AUG 26 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...

  SOUTHERN SARGENT COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 545 PM CDT.

* AT 502 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES WEST OF STRAUBVILLE...OR ABOUT 59 MILES
  SOUTH OF VALLEY CITY...MOVING TO THE EAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...

  STRAUBVILLE AT 515 PM...
  COGSWELL AT 525 PM...
  BRAMPTON AT 530 PM AND
  HAVANA AT 545 PM.

DURING THUNDERSTORMS YOU SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING. DO NOT
STAND BY WINDOWS. DO NOT USE TELEPHONES OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES.

LAT...LON 4616 9812 4598 9815 4588 9747 4612 9742

$$
HOPPES

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 26, 3:00 PM CDT, 2 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 26, 3:00 PM CDT, 2 hours 5 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
300 PM CDT THU AUG 26 2004

.SHORT TERM...MAIN FORECAST CHALLENGES ARE PRECIPITATION AND
TEMPERATURES. WHEN LOOKING AT LATEST SURFACE ANALYSIS...LOW
PRESSURE IS CENTERED IN SE MB...WITH ONE TROF EXTENDING THROUGH W
MN...ANOTHER THROUGH NE ND...AND A COLD FRONT EXTENDING THROUGH S
MB. WHEN COMPARING MODELS...ETA AND GFS ARE IN PRETTY GOOD
AGREEMENT...SO USED COMPROMISE FOR FORECAST. BEST INSTABILITY AND
MOISTURE REMAIN ALONG THE E FRINGE OF AREA THIS AFTERNOON...AHEAD OF
THE TROF IN W MN. THUS... EXPECT POTENTIAL FOR ANY SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY TO BE PRETTY MUCH E OF THE AREA. HOWEVER...
STILL DO HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR WEAKER SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM
ACTIVITY TO OCCUR...SO KEPT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS INTO THE EARLY
EVENING HOURS...WITH NO MENTION OF SEVERE. AS COLD FRONT APPROACHES
TONIGHT...INSTABILITY WEAKENS...BUT COLD AIR ADVECTION REMAINS...SO
KEPT A CHANCE FOR SHOWERS FOR THE N HALF OF AREA INTO FRI MORNING.

HIGH PRESSURE THEN BUILDS INTO THE AREA ON FRI AND LINGERS FOR MUCH
OF THE WEEKEND...KEEPING THE AREA DRY WITH TEMPERATURES REMAINING
BELOW NORMAL. ANOTHER UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE AND SURFACE LOW PRESSURE
SYSTEM MOVE OUT INTO THE N PLAINS ON SUN AFTERNOON...BRINGING THE
NEXT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS TO THE N HALF OF THE AREA.

.LONG TERM....(MON-THU)...LONG RANGE MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH
DEVELOPING A W TROUGH DURING EXTENDED PERIOD. AMPLITUDE STILL
REMAINS A QUESTION WHICH AFFECTS TEMPERATURE AND TIMING OF
PRECIPITATION. REGION TO BE IN UPPER LEVEL W FLOW THROUGH MID-WEEK
WITH MAIN ENERGY REMAINING NORTH OF INTERNATIONAL BORDER. TRANSITION
TO UPPER LEVEL SW FLOW FOR LATE WEEK PERIOD...BUT WITH TIMING STILL
A BIG QUESTION WILL HOLD OFF THUNDER CHANCES THROUGH THU NIGHT.
06Z/12Z GFS TRENDING TOWARD A MORE AMPLIFIED W TROUGH...AND THUS A
SLOWER SOLUTION. TEMPERATURE TO INCREMENTALLY WARM THROUGH THE WEEK.

&&

.FGF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...

ND...NONE.
MN...NONE.

&&

NG/TG

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 26, 5:58 AM CDT, 11 hours 7 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
558 AM CDT THU AUG 26 2004

MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024-
026>030-038-039-049-052>054-261347-
BARNES-BENSON-CASS-CAVALIER-CLAY-EAST BECKER-EAST MARSHALL-
EAST OTTER TAIL-EAST POLK-EASTERN WALSH COUNTY-EDDY-GRAND FORKS-
GRANT-GRIGGS-HUBBARD-KITTSON-LAKE OF THE WOODS-MAHNOMEN-NELSON-
NORMAN-NORTH BELTRAMI-NORTH CLEARWATER-PEMBINA-PENNINGTON-RAMSEY-
RANSOM-RED LAKE-RICHLAND-ROSEAU-SARGENT-SOUTH BELTRAMI-
SOUTH CLEARWATER-STEELE-TOWNER-TRAILL-WADENA-WEST BECKER-
WEST MARSHALL-WEST OTTER TAIL-WEST POLK-WESTERN WALSH COUNTY-WILKIN-
548 AM CDT THU AUG 26 2004

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA...WEST
CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT
THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM THE VALLEY
EAST TODAY WITH THE MAIN THREAT BEING LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.
A TROUGH LOW PRESSURE OVER EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA WILL MOVE EAST TODAY
AND BUMP UP INTO RESIDUAL INSTABILITY FROM THE VALLEY EAST. THIS
SCENARIO MIGHT HELP TO INDUCE AN ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OR
TWO. THE THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD TRANSITION INTO SHOWERY RAINS TONIGHT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.
THERE IS A CHANCE FOR ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS ON SUNDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON.

BERG

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 26, 11:28 AM CDT, 5 hours 37 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
1128 AM CDT THU AUG 26 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0945 PM     HAIL             10 W WALUM              47.27N 98.41W
08/25/2004  0.88 INCH        GRIGGS             ND   PUBLIC

1058 PM     HAIL             5 WNW DAZEY             47.22N 98.30W
08/25/2004  1.00 INCH        BARNES             ND   PUBLIC

1200 AM     HAIL             5 N ELDRED              47.76N 96.78W
08/26/2004  0.88 INCH        POLK               MN   PUBLIC

&&

DK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 25, 7:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Ransom, Sargent	42 min
Aug 25, 8:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cass	51 min
Aug 25, 8:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Barnes	52 min
Aug 25, 8:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Traill	51 min
Aug 25, 9:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Traill	42 min
Aug 25, 9:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Barnes, Griggs	42 min
Aug 25, 10:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Barnes, Griggs	50 min
Aug 25, 11:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Grand Forks	44 min
Aug 26, 5:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Sargent	45 min
Aug 26, 6:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Sargent	45 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in North Dakota, 2004 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2004

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; local storm reports from the same archive; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.