Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 775

August 23, 200421 counties in North Dakota; 9 counties in South Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Aug 23, 2004, 2:25 PM MDT for 21 counties in North Dakota; 9 counties in South Dakota. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Aug 23, 2004, 2:25 PM MDT (20:25 UTC)
Expired
Aug 23, 2004, 8:00 PM MDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 30 counties

Adams County, ND, Billings County, ND, Burleigh County, ND, Dunn County, ND, Emmons County, ND, Golden Valley County, ND, Grant County, ND, Hettinger County, ND, McHenry County, ND, McKenzie County, ND, McLean County, ND, Mercer County, ND, Morton County, ND, Mountrail County, ND, Oliver County, ND, Sheridan County, ND, Sioux County, ND, Slope County, ND, Stark County, ND, Ward County, ND, Williams County, ND, Campbell County, SD, Corson County, SD, Dewey County, SD, Edmunds County, SD, Faulk County, SD, Perkins County, SD, Potter County, SD, Walworth County, SD, Ziebach County, SD

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 79 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:26 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 23, 4:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISAdams60 min
Aug 23, 4:34 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISHettinger56 min
Aug 23, 5:30 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISGrant, Morton60 min
Aug 23, 5:43 PM MDTTornado WarningBISGrant32 min
Aug 23, 5:58 PM MDTTornado WarningBISMorton32 min
Aug 23, 6:30 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISMorton, Oliver60 min
Aug 23, 6:57 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBurleigh, McLean, Morton63 min
Aug 23, 7:46 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBurleigh, Kidder59 min
Aug 23, 7:56 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningBISBurleigh94 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

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 83 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Bismarck Municip, ND at 12:00Z on 2004-08-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Bismarck Municip, ND at 12:00Z on 2004-08-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 169 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
890 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
169 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
383 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 232022
SEL5  
SPC WW 232025
MTZ000-NDZ000-SDZ000-240200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 775
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
225 PM MDT MON AUG 23 2004

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

       NORTHEAST MONTANA
       WESTERN NORTH DAKOTA
       NORTHWEST SOUTH DAKOTA

EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 225 PM UNTIL 800
PM MDT.

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 95 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 50 MILES NORTHEAST OF WILLISTON NORTH DAKOTA TO 50
MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF MOBRIDGE SOUTH 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.

DISCUSSION...STRONG TROUGH AND SURFACE LOW MOVING NEWD ACROSS ERN MT
WITH RAPID RETURN OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE/INSTABILITY WRN DAKOTAS. 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP RAPIDLY AHEAD OF SYSTEM AS
COLD FRONT MOVES INTO WRN ND AND NW SD.  SHEAR PROFILES FAVORABLE
FOR SUPERCELLS WHICH WILL ENHANCE SEVERE THREAT INCLUDING TORNADOES.

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 24040.


...HALES

484,1004 445,0985 445,1024 484,1045

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 23, 12:59 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBillings, Bowman, Dunn, Golden Valley, McKenzie, Slope and 1 more2 hr
Aug 23, 1:22 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Burleigh, Emmons, Grant, Hettinger, Kidder and 9 more113 min
Aug 23, 5:02 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Billings, Burleigh, Dunn, Emmons, Golden Valley and 15 more88 min
Aug 22, 6:32 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBennett, Jackson, Mellette, Oglala Lakota, Pennington118 min
Aug 23, 1:58 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClay, Lincoln, McCook, Minnehaha, Turner, Union and 1 more2 hr
Aug 23, 4:05 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBennett, Brule, Buffalo, Gregory, Haakon, Hand and 10 more6 hr
Aug 23, 4:30 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBrookings, Clark, Codington, Day, Deuel, Grant and 6 more2 hr

Nearby

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