Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 534

July 2, 200412 counties in Minnesota; 13 counties in North Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 2, 2004, 3:10 PM CDT for 12 counties in Minnesota; 13 counties in North Dakota. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 2, 2004, 3:10 PM CDT (20:10 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 2004, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 25 counties

Becker County, MN, Clay County, MN, Kittson County, MN, Mahnomen County, MN, Marshall County, MN, Norman County, MN, Otter Tail County, MN, Pennington County, MN, Polk County, MN, Red Lake County, MN, Roseau County, MN, Wilkin County, MN, Barnes County, ND, Cass County, ND, Cavalier County, ND, Grand Forks County, ND, Griggs County, ND, Nelson County, ND, Pembina County, ND, Ransom County, ND, Richland County, ND, Sargent County, ND, Steele County, ND, Traill County, ND, Walsh County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 51 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:13 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 2, 3:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Barnes	65 min
Jul 2, 4:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Norman, Polk	43 min
Jul 2, 5:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Polk	46 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, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 271 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: 1376 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 32 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 84 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 022009
SEL4  
SPC WW 022010
MNZ000-NDZ000-030200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 534
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
310 PM CDT FRI JUL 2 2004

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

       NORTHWEST MINNESOTA
       EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA

EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 310 PM UNTIL 900
PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 65 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 70 MILES NORTH OF GRAND FORKS NORTH DAKOTA TO 65
MILES SOUTH OF FARGO NORTH DAKOTA.

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.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 533...

DISCUSSION...SLY FLOW AHEAD OF SURFACE TROUGH  HAS RESULTED IN AIR
MASS BECOMING VERY UNSTABLE ERN ND.  VAD WIND AT GFK INDICATES
FAVORABLE VEERING PROFILES FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SUPERCELLS AND WITH
THE LOW LCLS ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE LIKELY.  STORMS WILL DEVELOP ON
N/S TROUGH LINE AND MOVE NEWD INTO NWRN MN BY THIS EVENING.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24025.


...HALES

485,0954 455,0952 455,0980 485,0983

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 2, 2:52 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Becker, Clay, Clearwater, Kittson, Mahnomen, Marshall and 7 more	113 min
Jul 2, 6:06 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Kittson, Mahnomen and 8 more	84 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Dakota, 2004 Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 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.