Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 2005

Tornado Warning 13, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 20, 2005Richland County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at May 20, 2005, 6:30 PM CDT for Richland County, North Dakota. It was in force for 60 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, 6:30 PM CDT (23:30 UTC)
Expired: May 20, 2005, 7:30 PM CDT
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Richland County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 117 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:33 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 20, 6:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	8 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 214 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 202331
TORFGF
NDC077-210030-
/O.NEW.KFGF.TO.W.0013.050520T2330Z-050521T0030Z/

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN RICHLAND COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT

* AT 628 PM CDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 3 MILES NORTHWEST OF WALCOTT...OR
  23 MILES SOUTH OF FARGO...MOVING TO THE SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  WALCOTT AT 640 PM
  COLFAX AT 655 PM
  ABERCROMBIE AT 710 PM
  GALCHUTT AT 715 PM

THIS STORM CONTINUE TO SHOW VERY STRONG ROTATION AND HAS A HISTORY 
OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AND TORNADOES.

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 4662 9679 4663 9728 4642 9720 4634 9667
      4648 9675

$$

JDS/KENNEDY

1 follow-up statement

000 
WWUS53 KFGF 210002
SVSFGF

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

NDC077-210030-
/O.CON.KFGF.TO.W.0013.000000T0000Z-050521T0030Z/
RICHLAND ND-
701 PM CDT FRI MAY 20 2005

...A TORNADO WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 730 PM CDT FOR NORTHERN RICHLAND
COUNTY...

AT 658 PM CDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE 
THUNDERSTORM WITH ROTATION.  THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED 
NEAR COLFAX...OR 20 MILES NORTHWEST OF WAHPETON...MOVING TO THE 
SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH.

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  ABERCROMBIE BY 725 PM CDT...
  GALCHUTT BY 730 PM CDT...

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM 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 4662 9679 4663 9728 4642 9720 4634 9667
      4648 9675

$$

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, 5:55 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Cass	33 min
May 20, 6:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Barnes	50 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.