Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 678

July 10, 200831 counties in North Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 10, 2008, 3:11 PM MDT for 31 counties in North Dakota. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 10, 2008, 3:11 PM MDT (21:11 UTC)
Expired
Jul 10, 2008, 10:25 PM MDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
3 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 31 counties

Adams County, ND, Bottineau County, ND, Burke County, ND, Burleigh County, ND, Dickey County, ND, Divide 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, McHenry County, ND, McIntosh County, ND, McLean County, ND, Mercer County, ND, Morton County, ND, Mountrail County, ND, Oliver County, ND, Pierce County, ND, Renville County, ND, Rolette County, ND, Sheridan County, ND, Sioux County, ND, Stark County, ND, Stutsman County, ND, Ward County, ND, Wells County, ND, Williams County, ND

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 54 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:13 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
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
40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
60%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 10, 3:35 PM MDTTornado WarningBISMcLean, Mercer25 min
Jul 10, 3:41 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISGrant, Sioux64 min
Jul 10, 3:55 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISGrant, Morton65 min
Jul 10, 4:00 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBurleigh, McLean, Oliver, Sheridan60 min
Jul 10, 4:03 PM MDTTornado WarningBISGrant, Morton27 min
Jul 10, 4:23 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBurleigh, Oliver67 min
Jul 10, 4:44 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISGrant, Morton, Sioux61 min
Jul 10, 4:50 PM MDTTornado WarningBISGrant, Morton, Sioux40 min
Jul 10, 4:59 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISGrant, Morton61 min
Jul 10, 5:00 PM MDTTornado WarningBISBurleigh45 min
Jul 10, 5:06 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISPierce, Wells29 min
Jul 10, 5:41 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBurleigh, Kidder64 min
Jul 10, 5:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISGrant, Morton, Sioux60 min
Jul 10, 5:50 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISEmmons, Kidder, Logan55 min
Jul 10, 5:52 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBurleigh53 min
Jul 10, 5:59 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISEmmons61 min
Jul 10, 6:05 PM MDTTornado WarningBISKidder, Logan25 min
Jul 10, 6:44 PM MDTTornado WarningBISEmmons31 min
Jul 10, 6:48 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISDickey, LaMoure57 min
Jul 10, 6:52 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISLaMoure53 min
Jul 10, 7:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISEmmons, McIntosh60 min
Jul 10, 7:36 PM MDTTornado WarningBISLaMoure24 min
Jul 10, 9:54 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISEmmons, McIntosh66 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, 9.2 hours before the alert went out and 55 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 2008-07-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 730 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 2008-07-10The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 133 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
730 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-349 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1392 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
133 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
115 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
WWUS20 KWNS 102051
SEL8  
SPC WW 102051
NDZ000-110300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 678
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
350 PM CDT THU JUL 10 2008

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

       WESTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 350 PM UNTIL
1000 PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 85 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 65 MILES SOUTHEAST OF BISMARCK
NORTH DAKOTA TO 50 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF MINOT NORTH DAKOTA. 
FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU8).

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 676...WW 677...

DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AND INTENSIFY
ACROSS WRN INTO CENTRAL ND THIS EVENING AS AIR MASS BECOMES
MODERATELY UNSTABLE AND WEAKLY CAPPED.  SHEAR WILL BE QUITE STRONG
AND SUPPORT SUPERCELLS AND POSSIBLE TORNADOES AS STORMS MATURE.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
500. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 26025.


...EVANS

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 10, 1:41 AM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarnes, Burke, Burleigh, Dickey, Divide, Emmons and 20 more3 hr
Jul 10, 6:41 AM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCass, Ransom, Richland, Sargent64 min
Jul 10, 6:58 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCCass, Ransom, Richland, Sargent5 hr
Jul 10, 2:46 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Benson, Burleigh, Eddy, Emmons, Foster and 17 more59 min
Jul 10, 5:03 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarnes, Benson, Burleigh, Cass, Dickey, Eddy and 20 more57 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.