Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 2008
Tornado Watch 359
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 25, 2008, 2:04 PM CDT for 15 counties in Iowa; 35 counties in Minnesota; 20 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 25, 2008, 2:04 PM CDT (19:04 UTC)
- Expired
- May 25, 2008, 7:57 PM CDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Particularly dangerous situation
- Yes
- Largest hail expected
- 3 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 70 kt
All 70 counties
Allamakee County, IA, Cerro Gordo County, IA, Chickasaw County, IA, Clayton County, IA, Emmet County, IA, Fayette County, IA, Floyd County, IA, Hancock County, IA, Howard County, IA, Kossuth County, IA, Mitchell County, IA, Palo Alto County, IA, Winnebago County, IA, Winneshiek County, IA, Worth County, IA, Anoka County, MN, Blue Earth County, MN, Brown County, MN, Carver County, MN, Chisago County, MN, Dakota County, MN, Dodge County, MN, Faribault County, MN, Fillmore County, MN, Freeborn County, MN, Goodhue County, MN, Hennepin County, MN, Houston County, MN, Isanti County, MN, Kandiyohi County, MN, Le Sueur County, MN, Martin County, MN, McLeod County, MN, Meeker County, MN, Mower County, MN, Nicollet County, MN, Olmsted County, MN, Ramsey County, MN, Renville County, MN, Rice County, MN, Scott County, MN, Sherburne County, MN, Sibley County, MN, Steele County, MN, Wabasha County, MN, Waseca County, MN, Washington County, MN, Watonwan County, MN, Winona County, MN, Wright County, MN, Barron County, WI, Buffalo County, WI, Chippewa County, WI, Clark County, WI, Crawford County, WI, Dunn County, WI, Eau Claire County, WI, Grant County, WI, Jackson County, WI, La Crosse County, WI, Monroe County, WI, Pepin County, WI, Pierce County, WI, Polk County, WI, Richland County, WI, Rusk County, WI, Saint Croix County, WI, Taylor County, WI, Trempealeau County, WI, Vernon County, WI
The radar
The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 72 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:06 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
- 80%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 50%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 50%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 60%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 80%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 50%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 95%
Warnings issued inside it
34 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 25, 3:04 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Meeker, Stearns, Wright | 56 min |
| May 25, 3:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Meeker, Sherburne, Wright | 54 min |
| May 25, 3:49 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Sherburne, Wright | 26 min |
| May 25, 4:01 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Benton, Meeker, Mille Lacs, Sherburne, Stearns, Wright | 59 min |
| May 25, 4:03 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Cerro Gordo, Franklin | 42 min |
| May 25, 4:03 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Hennepin, Wright | 27 min |
| May 25, 4:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Anoka, Chisago, Isanti, Washington | 62 min |
| May 25, 4:26 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ARX | Floyd | 34 min |
| May 25, 4:37 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Anoka, Ramsey, Washington | 23 min |
| May 25, 4:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Sherburne, Wright | 49 min |
| May 25, 4:56 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Anoka, Ramsey, Washington | 34 min |
| May 25, 5:02 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Hennepin | 28 min |
| May 25, 5:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Polk | 51 min |
| May 25, 5:13 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Polk, Saint Croix | 47 min |
| May 25, 5:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Chickasaw, Floyd | 29 min |
| May 25, 5:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Anoka, Chisago, Isanti, Washington | 43 min |
| May 25, 5:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Anoka, Ramsey, Washington | 35 min |
| May 25, 5:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Howard, Winneshiek | 29 min |
| May 25, 5:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Fayette | 42 min |
| May 25, 5:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Barron | 48 min |
| May 25, 5:47 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Polk, Saint Croix | 58 min |
| May 25, 5:50 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Barron, Dunn | 40 min |
| May 25, 6:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Washington | 30 min |
| May 25, 6:10 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ARX | Fayette | 35 min |
| May 25, 6:24 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Dunn | 51 min |
| May 25, 6:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Dunn, Pierce | 49 min |
| May 25, 6:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Chippewa, Rusk | 62 min |
| May 25, 6:29 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Clayton | 76 min |
| May 25, 6:51 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire | 54 min |
| May 25, 7:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Clark, Taylor | 82 min |
| May 25, 7:13 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Dunn, Eau Claire | 32 min |
| May 25, 7:22 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Grant | 68 min |
| May 25, 7:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Fayette | 43 min |
| May 25, 7:38 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire, Pepin | 51 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
Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 74 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 58 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -266 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 641 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 63 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 53 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 45 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -3.1
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 24, 9:01 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Buena Vista, Calhoun, Carroll, Cherokee, Clay, Crawford and 16 more | 59 min |
| May 25, 12:43 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Allamakee, Black Hawk, Boone, Bremer, Butler, Calhoun and 27 more | 92 min |
| May 25, 3:30 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Adams, Appanoose, Audubon, Benton, Black Hawk and 55 more | 5 hr |
| May 25, 5:08 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Benton, Black Hawk, Boone, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler and 21 more | 67 min |
| May 24, 8:07 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Becker, Clay, Grant, Kittson, Mahnomen, Marshall and 7 more | 3 hr |
| May 24, 9:26 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Becker, Clay, Clearwater, Douglas, Grant, Kittson and 9 more | 2 hr |
| May 25, 9:56 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Benton, Carlton, Cook, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs and 4 more | 94 min |
| May 25, 2:25 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Aitkin, Beltrami, Carlton, Cass, Crow Wing, Hubbard and 10 more | 35 min |
| May 25, 2:45 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Aitkin, Beltrami, Benton, Carlton, Cass, Cook and 14 more | 6 hr |
| May 25, 6:01 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Aitkin, Anoka, Benton, Carlton, Carver, Cass and 20 more | 59 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2008Tornado Watches in Wisconsin, 2008Tornado Watches in Iowa, 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.