Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 666

July 7, 20089 counties in Minnesota; 9 counties in North Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 7, 2008, 5:30 PM CDT for 9 counties in Minnesota; 9 counties in North Dakota. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 7, 2008, 5:30 PM CDT (22:30 UTC)
Expired
Jul 7, 2008, 8:47 PM CDT
In force
3 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt

Counties Becker County, MN, Clay County, MN, Kittson County, MN, Mahnomen County, MN, Marshall County, MN, Norman County, MN, Pennington County, MN, Polk County, MN, Red Lake County, MN, Cass County, ND, Cavalier County, ND, Grand Forks County, ND, Nelson County, ND, Pembina County, ND, Ramsey County, ND, Steele County, ND, Traill County, ND, Walsh County, ND

What SPC expected

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

Two or more tornadoes
50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
50%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
40%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 7, 5:52 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFSteele, Traill23 min
Jul 7, 6:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFKittson60 min
Jul 7, 6:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFCass59 min
Jul 7, 6:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFNorman28 min
Jul 7, 6:26 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFMarshall64 min
Jul 7, 6:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFKittson, Roseau60 min
Jul 7, 6:49 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFClay, Norman56 min
Jul 7, 7:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFClay, Wilkin60 min
Jul 7, 7:23 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFMarshall39 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, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 295 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 2008-07-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 247 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 2008-07-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 43 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
247 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-38 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
693 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
43 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-43 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 6, 9:43 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDodge, Goodhue, Le Sueur, Olmsted, Rice, Steele and 3 more92 min
Jul 7, 1:36 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCPipestone, Rock114 min
Jul 7, 1:51 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCDodge, Faribault, Fillmore, Freeborn, Houston, Mower and 4 more7 hr
Jul 7, 2:45 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBecker, Big Stone, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Mahnomen and 11 more60 min
Jul 7, 3:14 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCFillmore, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Winona91 min
Jul 7, 3:26 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCClay, Grant, Norman, Otter Tail, Polk, Wilkin5 hr
Jul 7, 5:08 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBecker, Clay, Kittson, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman and 3 more67 min
Jul 7, 5:55 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCFillmore, Houston, Mower, Winona95 min
Jul 6, 8:51 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Billings, Burke, Dunn, Grant, Hettinger and 6 more54 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2008Tornado 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.