Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 2004

Tornado Warning 44, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 18, 2004Cass County, Steele County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 18, 2004, 8:31 PM CDT for Cass County, Steele County, North Dakota. It was in force for 44 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 18, 2004, 8:31 PM CDT (01:31 UTC)
Expired: Jul 18, 2004, 9:15 PM CDT
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Cass County, ND, Steele County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 45 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:34 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.

The watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jul 18, 6:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 1.5 hours before the alert went out and 259 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: 2541 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -155 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1628 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 172 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 230 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 5.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KFGF 190131
TORFGF
NDC017-091-190215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
831 PM CDT SUN JUL 18 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  CASS COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA   
  SOUTHEASTERN STEELE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 915 PM CDT.

* AT 819 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 8 MILES EAST OF COLGATE...
  OR ABOUT 34 MILES NORTHEAST OF VALLEY CITY...MOVING TO THE SOUTH AT
  20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...

  PAGE AT 835 PM...
  AYR AT 855 PM AND
  ABSARAKA AT 905 PM.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO THE SAFEST PLACE IS A BASEMENT.
GET UNDER A STAIRWAY OR A PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.

LAT...LON 4731 9748 4731 9771 4690 9767 4695 9739

$$

HOPPES

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 18, 7:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Grand Forks, Steele	45 min
Jul 18, 7:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Traill	43 min
Jul 18, 8:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Barnes	52 min
Jul 18, 9:14 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Barnes, Cass	46 min
Jul 18, 10:00 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	FGF	Cass	8 hr
Jul 18, 10:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Cass	29 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.