Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 406

June 7, 200415 counties in Minnesota; 4 counties in Wisconsin

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 7, 2004, 4:50 PM CDT for 15 counties in Minnesota; 4 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 7, 2004, 4:50 PM CDT (21:50 UTC)
Expired: Jun 8, 2004, 12:00 AM CDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Aitkin County, MN, Benton County, MN, Carlton County, MN, Cass County, MN, Crow Wing County, MN, Isanti County, MN, Itasca County, MN, Kanabec County, MN, Koochiching County, MN, Lake County, MN, Mille Lacs County, MN, Morrison County, MN, Pine County, MN, Saint Louis County, MN, Stearns County, MN, Bayfield County, WI, Burnett County, WI, Douglas County, WI, Washburn County, WI

The radar

The Duluth radar (KDLH), 75 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:52 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 7, 5:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DLH	Lake, Saint Louis	62 min
Jun 7, 6:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DLH	Lake, Saint Louis	26 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

International Fa, MN (KINL), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 202 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 502 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 72 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 461 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 648 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 072152
SEL6  
SPC WW 072150
MNZ000-WIZ000-LSZ000-080500-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 406
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
450 PM CDT MON JUN 7 2004

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST MINNESOTA
       NORTHWEST WISCONSIN
       LAKE SUPERIOR

EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY AFTERNOON FROM 450 PM UNTIL MIDNIGHT CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 85 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 50 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF ELY MINNESOTA TO 40
MILES EAST OF SAINT CLOUD MINNESOTA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

DISCUSSION...ISOLATED SUPERCELLS ARE LIKELY TO RAPIDLY INTENSIFY
OVER NORTHERN MN DURING THE NEXT FEW HOURS...TRACKING NORTHEASTWARD
INTO THE ARROWHEAD REGION.  OTHER ISOLATED SEVERE STORMS MAY OCCUR
FARTHER SOUTH ALONG THE FRONT INTO CENTRAL MN. VERY UNSTABLE
AIRMASS AND STRONG LOW LEVEL/DEEP LAYER SHEAR PROFILES WILL FAVOR
THE POTENTIAL FOR VERY LARGE HAIL AND TORNADOES.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24040.


...HART

483,0902 453,0912 453,0945 483,0940

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 6, 8:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Kittson, Marshall, Norman, Polk	6 hr
Jun 7, 1:33 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Kittson, Marshall, Norman, Polk	87 min
Jun 7, 4:37 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Aitkin, Carlton, Cass, Crow Wing, Itasca, Lake and 5 more	113 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2004 Tornado Watches in Wisconsin, 2004 Every tornado 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.