Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 2005

Tornado Warning 11, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 20, 2005Cass County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at May 20, 2005, 5:55 PM CDT for Cass County, North Dakota. It was in force for 33 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 20, 2005, 5:55 PM CDT (22:55 UTC)
Expired: May 20, 2005, 6:28 PM CDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Cass County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 76 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:55 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 246 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: 1627 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 23 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 37 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 
WFUS53 KFGF 202256
TORFGF
NDC017-202330-
/O.NEW.KFGF.TO.W.0011.050520T2255Z-050520T2330Z/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
555 PM CDT FRI MAY 20 2005

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHEASTERN CASS COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA
  THIS INCLUDES THE CITY OF FARGO

* UNTIL 630 PM CDT

* AT 550 PM CDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 2 MILES SOUTHWEST OF DAVENPORT...
  OR 18 MILES SOUTHWEST OF FARGO...MOVING TO THE SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

  THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING TORNADOES IN SOUTHERN CASS 
COUNTY.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A STURDY BUILDING.

LAT...LON 4706 9686 4701 9735 4664 9727 4664 9681
      4688 9681

$$

JDS/KENNEDY

2 follow-up statements

000 
WWUS53 KFGF 202315
SVSFGF

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
614 PM CDT FRI MAY 20 2005

NDC017-202330-
/O.CON.KFGF.TO.W.0011.000000T0000Z-050520T2330Z/
CASS ND-
614 PM CDT FRI MAY 20 2005

...A TORNADO WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 630 PM CDT FOR SOUTHEASTERN CASS
COUNTY...

*AT 611 PM CDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE 
THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION.  THE TORNADO WAS LOCATED 3 MILES 
SOUTHWEST OF KINDRED...OR 21 MILES SOUTHWEST OF FARGO...MOVING TO THE
SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH. THREE QUARTER INCH HAIL WAS REPORTED IN KINDRED 
AT 608 PM.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A STURDY BUILDING.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 200 AM CDT
SATURDAY MORNING FOR NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA AND EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA.

LAT...LON 4706 9686 4701 9735 4664 9727 4664 9681
      4688 9681

$$

JDS/KENNEDY

000 
WWUS53 KFGF 202328
SVSFGF

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS
627 PM CDT FRI MAY 20 2005

NDC017-202337-
/O.CAN.KFGF.TO.W.0011.000000T0000Z-050520T2330Z/
CASS ND-
627 PM CDT FRI MAY 20 2005

...THE TORNADO WARNING FOR SOUTHEASTERN CASS COUNTY IS CANCELLED...

AT 627 PM CDT...THE TORNADO IN SOUTHEASTERN CASS COUNTY WAS MOVING
OUT OF THE COUNTY. SO THE WARNING WILL BE ALLOWED TO EXPIRE.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 200 AM CDT
SATURDAY MORNING FOR NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA AND EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA.

LAT...LON 4706 9686 4701 9735 4664 9727 4664 9681
      4688 9681

$$

JDS/KENNEDY

The office that day

Everything else NWS Grand Forks, ND issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 20, 4:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Steele	37 min
May 20, 4:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Traill	51 min
May 20, 4:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Grand Forks	40 min
May 20, 4:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Grand Forks	36 min
May 20, 4:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Cass	64 min
May 20, 5:46 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Richland	44 min
May 20, 6:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Barnes	50 min
May 20, 6:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Richland	60 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 2005 Every tornado warning in 2005 Tornadoes in 2005

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.