Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 2004

Tornado Warning 45, NWS Grand Forks, ND

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

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 18, 2004, 9:14 PM CDT for Barnes County, Cass County, North Dakota. It was in force for 46 min. 5 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: Jul 18, 2004, 9:14 PM CDT (02:14 UTC)
Expired: Jul 18, 2004, 10:00 PM CDT
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Barnes County, ND, Cass County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 75 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:14 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
Jul 18, 9:44 PM CDT	TSTM WND DMG	Tower City, ND	ROOF RIPPED OFF HOUSE TREES BENT TO THE GROUND
Jul 18, 9:44 PM CDT	TSTM WND DMG	Tower City, ND	ROOF RIPPED OFF HOUSE TREES BENT TO THE GROUND
Jul 18, 9:45 PM CDT	TSTM WND DMG	Tower City, ND	BROKEN 2 INCH DIAMETER BRANCHES SCATTERED AROUND TOWN
Jul 18, 9:45 PM CDT	TORNADO	Tower City, ND
Jul 18, 9:45 PM CDT	TORNADO	Tower City, 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
Jul 18, 6:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 2.2 hours before the alert went out and 229 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 190214
TORFGF
NDC003-017-190300-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...

  EASTERN BARNES COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA
  WESTERN CASS COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 1000 PM CDT.

* AT 909 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 7 MILES NORTHEAST OF
  ORISKA...OR ABOUT 15 MILES NORTHEAST OF VALLEY CITY...MOVING TO THE
  SOUTH AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...

  TOWER CITY AT 925 PM...
  ORISKA AT 930 PM AND
  FINGAL AT 1000 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 4706 9757 4711 9783 4666 9805 4665 9760

$$

VOELKER/04

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, 8:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Cass, Steele	44 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; local storm reports from the same archive; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.