Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 2005

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Grand Forks, ND

May 20, 2005Steele County, North Dakota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at May 20, 2005, 4:09 PM CDT for Steele County, North Dakota. It was in force for 37 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, 4:09 PM CDT (21:09 UTC)
Expired: May 20, 2005, 4:46 PM CDT
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Steele County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 26 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:11 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

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 9.2 hours before the alert went out and 244 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: 184 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -180 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1509 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 109 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KFGF 202109
TORFGF
NDC091-202215-
/O.NEW.KFGF.TO.W.0005.050520T2109Z-050520T2215Z/

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN STEELE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA

* UNTIL 515 PM CDT

* AT 406 PM CDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 6 MILES NORTHEAST OF HOPE...OR 36
  MILES NORTHEAST OF VALLEY CITY...MOVING TO THE EAST AT 50 MPH.

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

LAT...LON 4747 9768 4730 9773 4727 9749 4747 9750

$$
NG/GV

2 follow-up statements

000 
WWUS53 KFGF 202126
SVSFGF

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

NDC091-202215-
/O.CON.KFGF.TO.W.0005.000000T0000Z-050520T2215Z/
STEELE ND-
426 PM CDT FRI MAY 20 2005

...A TORNADO WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 515 PM CDT FOR EASTERN 
STEELE COUNTY...

AT 423 PM CDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION.  THE TORNADO WAS LOCATED 6 MILES
WEST OF CLIFFORD...OR 38 MILES NORTHEAST OF VALLEY CITY...MOVING TO
THE EAST AT 20 MPH.

A TORNADO TOUCHDOWN WAS REPORTED BY A TRAINED SPOTTER 5 NW OF HOPE 
AT 405 PM.

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

LAT...LON 4747 9768 4730 9773 4727 9749 4747 9750

$$

NG

000 
WWUS53 KFGF 202146
SVSFGF

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

NDC091-202156-
/O.CAN.KFGF.TO.W.0005.000000T0000Z-050520T2215Z/
STEELE ND-
446 PM CDT FRI MAY 20 2005

...THE TORNADO WARNING FOR EASTERN STEELE COUNTY IS CANCELLED...

AT 446 PM CDT...THE TORNADO IN EASTERN STEELE COUNTY HAS MOVED
OUT OF THE COUNTY. SO THE WARNING HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

LAT...LON 4747 9768 4730 9773 4727 9749 4747 9750

$$
GV

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
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
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.