Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2004

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 191

May 11, 200421 counties in Minnesota; 7 counties in North Dakota; 8 counties in South Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 11, 2004, 8:45 PM CDT for 21 counties in Minnesota; 7 counties in North Dakota; 8 counties in South Dakota. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 11, 2004, 8:45 PM CDT (01:45 UTC)
Expired: May 12, 2004, 2:00 AM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 36 counties

Becker County, MN, Beltrami County, MN, Big Stone County, MN, Cass County, MN, Clay County, MN, Clearwater County, MN, Douglas County, MN, Grant County, MN, Hubbard County, MN, Mahnomen County, MN, Morrison County, MN, Norman County, MN, Otter Tail County, MN, Pope County, MN, Stearns County, MN, Stevens County, MN, Swift County, MN, Todd County, MN, Traverse County, MN, Wadena County, MN, Wilkin County, MN, Barnes County, ND, Cass County, ND, Dickey County, ND, LaMoure County, ND, Ransom County, ND, Richland County, ND, Sargent County, ND, Brown County, SD, Clark County, SD, Codington County, SD, Day County, SD, Grant County, SD, Marshall County, SD, Roberts County, SD, Spink County, SD

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 128 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:45 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.

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 11, 8:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Becker, Otter Tail	45 min
May 11, 8:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ABR	Brown, Day, Spink	35 min
May 11, 9:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Becker, Hubbard	46 min
May 11, 9:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Norman	52 min
May 11, 9:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Barnes, Ransom, Sargent	35 min
May 11, 10:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cass	37 min
May 11, 11:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Norman	40 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, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 206 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: 2506 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1786 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 92 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 152 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 8.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 11, 7:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Becker, Beltrami, Clay, Clearwater, Hubbard, Mahnomen and 4 more	6 hr
May 11, 7:22 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Becker, Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Hubbard, Mahnomen	113 min
May 11, 10:08 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Big Stone, Grant, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, Otter Tail and 6 more	2 hr
May 12, 11:29 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Dakota, Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Houston and 6 more	2 hr
May 12, 12:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Houston, Mower and 4 more	6 hr
May 12, 2:22 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Chisago, Dakota, Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue and 9 more	83 min
May 12, 3:37 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Dakota, Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Houston and 7 more	83 min
May 11, 9:39 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Charles Mix, Douglas, Gregory	2 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Minnesota, 2004 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in South Dakota, 2004 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in North Dakota, 2004 Every severe thunderstorm watch 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.