Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 352

May 24, 200820 counties in North Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 24, 2008, 6:24 PM CDT for 20 counties in North Dakota. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 24, 2008, 6:24 PM CDT (23:24 UTC)
Expired
May 24, 2008, 11:36 PM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1.5 in
Strongest gust expected
50 kt

Counties Burleigh County, ND, Dickey County, ND, Dunn County, ND, Emmons County, ND, Foster County, ND, Grant County, ND, Hettinger County, ND, Kidder County, ND, LaMoure County, ND, Logan County, ND, McIntosh County, ND, McLean County, ND, Mercer County, ND, Morton County, ND, Oliver County, ND, Sheridan County, ND, Sioux County, ND, Stark County, ND, Stutsman County, ND, Wells County, ND

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 28 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:23 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 SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
30%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
5%
Ten or more severe hail reports
30%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
5%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 24, 6:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISGrant, Sioux62 min
May 24, 7:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISDickey61 min
May 24, 7:30 PM CDTTornado WarningBISDickey45 min
May 24, 7:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISGrant, Morton44 min
May 24, 7:58 PM CDTTornado WarningBISDickey, LaMoure32 min
May 24, 8:03 PM CDTTornado WarningBISMorton27 min
May 24, 8:11 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISLaMoure35 min
May 24, 8:15 PM CDTTornado WarningBISMorton, Oliver30 min
May 24, 8:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISMorton51 min
May 24, 8:26 PM CDTTornado WarningBISBurleigh, Morton, Oliver34 min
May 24, 8:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISMorton42 min
May 24, 8:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISMorton42 min
May 24, 8:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBurleigh, Morton61 min
May 24, 8:50 PM CDTTornado WarningBISMcLean, Oliver25 min
May 24, 8:54 PM CDTTornado WarningBISMcLean, Mercer, Oliver36 min
May 24, 9:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBurleigh49 min
May 24, 9:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBurleigh46 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, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 31 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 2008-05-24Temperature 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 2008-05-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 234 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
774 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
234 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
235 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 242325
SEL2  
SPC WW 242325
NDZ000-250600-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 352
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
625 PM CDT SAT MAY 24 2008

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

       SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING FROM 625 PM
UNTIL 100 AM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 60 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 110 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES NORTH OF BISMARCK
NORTH DAKOTA TO 60 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF BISMARCK NORTH
DAKOTA.  FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED
WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU2).

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.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 346...WW 347...WW
348...WW 349...WW 350...WW 351...

DISCUSSION...SCTD TSTMS/POSSIBLE SUPERCELLS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP NEWD
INTO WW AREA THIS EVENING AS ASCENT/COOLING ALOFT ASSOCIATED WITH
LEFT EXIT REGION OF NEB/SD JET STREAK OVERSPREADS CORRIDOR OF
LOW-LVL WARMING/MOISTENING NEAR OCCLUDED FRONT.  BACKED LOW-LEVEL
FLOW AND SMALL TEMP-DEW POINT SPREADS COULD YIELD A COUPLE TORNADOES
IN ADDITION TO SVR HAIL/WIND.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 50 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
400. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24035.


...CORFIDI

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 24, 6:07 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBurleigh, Dickey, Dunn, Emmons, Grant, Hettinger and 12 more113 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Dakota, 2008Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.