Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 2004

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 11, 2004Ransom County, Richland County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at May 11, 2004, 5:40 PM CDT for Ransom County, Richland County, North Dakota. It was in force for 50 min. 1 report 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: May 11, 2004, 5:40 PM CDT (22:40 UTC)
Expired: May 11, 2004, 6:30 PM CDT
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Ransom County, ND, Richland County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 125 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:42 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 11, 6:00 PM CDT	HAIL 1.75	3 Ne Mcleod, ND

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

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 11, 3:55 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 191 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: 48 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -312 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1079 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 355 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 454 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

807 
WFUS53 KFGF 112240
TORFGF
NDC073-077-112330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
540 PM CDT TUE MAY 11 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  SOUTHEASTERN RANSOM COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA
  NORTHWESTERN RICHLAND COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 630 PM CDT.

* AT 534 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 7 MILES SOUTH OF MCLEOD...
  OR ABOUT 34 MILES WEST OF WAHPETON...MOVEMENT WAS TO THE NORTHEAST
  AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...

  MCLEOD AT 545 PM...
  BARRIE AT 625 PM AND
  WALCOTT AT 630 PM.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO
ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDY BUILDING.

LAT...LON 4630 9748 4628 9715 4654 9682 4661 9720

$$

DK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 11, 5:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Ransom, Richland, Sargent	40 min
May 11, 5:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Traill	38 min
May 11, 5:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Griggs	50 min
May 11, 6:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Grand Forks, Griggs, Nelson, Steele	36 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 2004 Every tornado warning in 2004 Tornadoes 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.