Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 2008

Tornado Warning 39, NWS Grand Forks, ND

July 11, 2008Becker County, Otter Tail County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 11, 2008, 3:46 PM CDT for Becker County, Otter Tail County, Minnesota. It was in force for 59 min. 5 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Jul 11, 2008, 3:46 PM CDT (20:46 UTC)
Expired: Jul 11, 2008, 4:45 PM CDT
In force: 59 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Storm-based polygon

Counties Becker County, MN, Otter Tail County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 152 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:49 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jul 11, 3:49 PM CDT	HAIL 0.88	2 Se Detroit Lakes, MN
Jul 11, 3:52 PM CDT	HAIL 1	3 W Frazee, MN
Jul 11, 3:53 PM CDT	HAIL 0.75	1 E Frazee, MN
Jul 11, 4:00 PM CDT	TSTM WND DMG	8 Nw Perham, MN	IRRIGATION SYSTEM CENTER PIVOTS HEAVILY DAMAGED IN AN AERA FROM 6 TO 8 MILES NORTHWEST OF PERHAM TO JUST NORTH OF PERHAM. ESTIMATED TIME 400 TO 430 PM.
Jul 11, 4:11 PM CDT	TORNADO 0	3 Ene Frazee, MN	AT LEAST TWO FUNNELS WERE SIGHTED EAST OF FRAZEE. A BRIEF TOUCHDOWN WAS OBSERVED IN AN OPENED AREA.

Local storm reports filed while the alert was in force, from inside its polygon or its counties.

The watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jul 11, 2:26 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 264 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: 890 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -362 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1222 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 129 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 393 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KFGF 112046
TORFGF
MNC005-111-112145-
/O.NEW.KFGF.TO.W.0039.080711T2046Z-080711T2145Z/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
346 PM CDT FRI JUL 11 2008

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND FORKS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTH CENTRAL BECKER COUNTY IN NORTHWEST MINNESOTA...
  NORTH CENTRAL OTTER TAIL COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA...

* UNTIL 445 PM CDT

* AT 344 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 2 MILES
  NORTHWEST OF VERGAS...OR 10 MILES SOUTH OF DETROIT LAKES...MOVING
  TO THE EAST AT 34 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  VERGAS AT 353 PM CDT...
  FRAZEE AT 359 PM CDT...

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO THE SAFEST PLACE IS A BASEMENT.
GET UNDER A STAIRWAY OR A PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT FRIDAY EVENING
FOR NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA AND EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA.

LAT...LON 4686 9559 4661 9548 4661 9573 4660 9587
      4678 9593
TIME...MOT...LOC 2045Z 257DEG 29KT 4667 9583

$$

GUST

1 follow-up statement

000 
WWUS53 KFGF 112059
SVSFGF

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
359 PM CDT FRI JUL 11 2008

MNC005-111-112145-
/O.CON.KFGF.TO.W.0039.000000T0000Z-080711T2145Z/
BECKER MN-OTTER TAIL MN-
357 PM CDT FRI JUL 11 2008

...A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 445 PM CDT FOR SOUTH
CENTRAL BECKER AND NORTH CENTRAL OTTER TAIL COUNTIES...

AT 353 PM CDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A TORNADO.
THE TORNADO WAS LOCATED 3 MILES WEST OF FRAZEE...OR 7 MILES SOUTHEAST
OF DETROIT LAKES...MOVING TO THE EAST AT 34 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
  CROSSING HIGHWAY 10 SOUTHEAST OF DETROIT LAKES AROUND 4 PM...
  NEAR FRAZEE AT 405 PM...

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

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT FRIDAY EVENING
FOR NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA AND EASTERN NORTH DAKOTA.

LAT...LON 4686 9559 4661 9548 4661 9573 4660 9587
      4678 9593
TIME...MOT...LOC 2057Z 253DEG 30KT 4674 9570

$$

GUST

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 10, 10:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Otter Tail, Wilkin	67 min
Jul 10, 11:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Grant, Otter Tail	57 min
Jul 11, 5:01 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Beltrami, Lake of the Woods, Roseau	59 min
Jul 11, 6:40 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods, Roseau	63 min
Jul 11, 8:37 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods	38 min
Jul 11, 9:10 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Marshall, Pennington, Polk	65 min
Jul 11, 2:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Mahnomen, Norman	55 min
Jul 11, 3:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Mahnomen, Norman, Polk	67 min
Jul 11, 3:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Kittson, Marshall, Roseau	53 min
Jul 11, 3:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Becker, Otter Tail	59 min
Jul 11, 3:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Emergency	FGF	Clearwater, Mahnomen	41 min
Jul 11, 3:37 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Clearwater, Polk	38 min
Jul 11, 3:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Marshall, Roseau	64 min
Jul 11, 3:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Beltrami, Clearwater, Marshall, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake	60 min
Jul 11, 4:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Becker	40 min
Jul 11, 4:14 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Clearwater, Mahnomen, Polk	61 min
Jul 11, 4:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Beltrami, Lake of the Woods, Marshall, Roseau	59 min
Jul 11, 4:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Otter Tail	52 min
Jul 11, 4:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Clearwater, Polk	44 min
Jul 11, 4:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Otter Tail, Wadena	41 min
Jul 11, 4:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods, Roseau	61 min
Jul 11, 5:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Hubbard, Wadena	30 min
Jul 11, 5:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Beltrami, Clearwater, Lake of the Woods, Marshall, Pennington	57 min
Jul 11, 5:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Becker, Hubbard, Otter Tail, Wadena	31 min
Jul 11, 6:26 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Lake of the Woods	21 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 2008 Every tornado warning in 2008 Tornadoes in 2008

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; local storm reports from the same archive; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.