Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 2004
Tornado Watch 678
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Aug 1, 2004, 3:15 PM CDT for 27 counties in Minnesota; Sargent County, North Dakota; 11 counties in South Dakota. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Aug 1, 2004, 3:15 PM CDT (20:15 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 1, 2004, 10:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 39 counties
Big Stone County, MN, Brown County, MN, Chippewa County, MN, Cottonwood County, MN, Douglas County, MN, Grant County, MN, Jackson County, MN, Kandiyohi County, MN, Lac qui Parle County, MN, Lincoln County, MN, Lyon County, MN, Martin County, MN, Meeker County, MN, Murray County, MN, Nobles County, MN, Pipestone County, MN, Pope County, MN, Redwood County, MN, Renville County, MN, Rock County, MN, Stearns County, MN, Stevens County, MN, Swift County, MN, Todd County, MN, Traverse County, MN, Watonwan County, MN, Yellow Medicine County, MN, Sargent County, ND, Brookings County, SD, Codington County, SD, Day County, SD, Deuel County, SD, Grant County, SD, Hamlin County, SD, Lake County, SD, Marshall County, SD, Minnehaha County, SD, Moody County, SD, Roberts County, SD
The radar
The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 168 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:12 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.
Discussions around it
SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.
The nearest sounding before it
Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 165 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 665 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -151 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 903 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 41 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 166 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 204 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.2
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
167
WWUS20 KWNS 012016
SEL8
SPC WW 012015
IAZ000-MNZ000-SDZ000-020300-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 678
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
315 PM CDT SUN AUG 1 2004
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
EXTREME NORTHWEST IOWA
SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA
EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA
EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 315 PM UNTIL 1000
PM 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 75 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 45 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF ALEXANDRIA MINNESOTA TO
10 MILES SOUTH OF WORTHINGTON 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...AIRMASS OVER EASTERN SD IS BECOMING VERY UNSTABLE WITH
DEWPOINTS NEAR 70F AND MLCAPE VALUES AROUND 3000 J/KG. COMBINATION
OF DAYTIME HEATING AND APPROACHING UPPER TROUGH WILL ERODE
CAP...LEADING TO ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT ACROSS WW
AREA IN THE NEXT 1-3 HOURS. STORMS WILL LIKELY BECOME SUPERCELLULAR
WITH A RISK OF VERY LARGE HAIL AND ISOLATED 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 30030.
...HART
460,0944 432,0940 432,0970 460,0975SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 8:19 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Blue Earth, Brown, Cottonwood, Dodge, Faribault, Fillmore and 15 more | 56 min |
| Jul 31, 9:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Blue Earth, Brown, Cottonwood, Dakota, Dodge, Faribault and 22 more | 5 hr |
| Jul 31, 11:41 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Blue Earth, Dakota, Dodge, Faribault, Fillmore, Freeborn and 14 more | 64 min |
| Aug 1, 5:56 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Faribault, Freeborn, Jackson, Martin, Mower, Nobles | 94 min |
| Aug 1, 1:48 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Big Stone, Brown, Chippewa, Cottonwood, Jackson, Kandiyohi and 20 more | 117 min |
| Aug 1, 3:41 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Pine | 2 hr |
| Aug 1, 4:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Aitkin, Benton, Chisago, Crow Wing, Isanti, Kanabec and 3 more | 5 hr |
| Aug 1, 3:43 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Golden Valley | 92 min |
| Aug 1, 4:39 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Benson, Burleigh, Dunn, Emmons, Grant and 13 more | 66 min |
| Aug 1, 5:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Adams, Benson, Bottineau, Burleigh, Cavalier, Eddy and 22 more | 5 hr |
| Jul 31, 10:27 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bon Homme, Charles Mix, Douglas, Gregory, Hutchinson, Todd and 3 more | 93 min |
| Aug 1, 6:35 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Brown, Campbell, Corson, Dewey, Edmunds, Faulk and 4 more | 3 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2004Tornado Watches in South Dakota, 2004Tornado Watches in North Dakota, 2004Every 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.