Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Warnings in 2011

Tornado Warning 68, NWS Bismarck, ND

July 17, 2011Dickey County, North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this tornado warning at Jul 17, 2011, 7:11 PM CDT for Dickey County, North Dakota. It was in force for 34 min. 1 report 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 17, 2011, 7:11 PM CDT (00:11 UTC)
Expired: Jul 17, 2011, 7:45 PM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND
Area: Storm-based polygon

County Dickey County, ND

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:10 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 17, 7:20 PM CDT	TSTM WND DMG	Merricourt, ND	TIME IS ESTIMATED BASED ON RADAR. MANY TREES SNAPPED AROUND MERRICOURT...MAINLY EVERGREEN. ALL LYING IN A SIMILAR DIRECTION.

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 17, 3:37 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 00:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 138 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: 5496 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -31 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1457 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 68 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 105 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.4
Supercell composite: 13.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

359 
WFUS53 KBIS 180011
TORBIS
NDC021-180045-
/O.NEW.KBIS.TO.W.0068.110718T0011Z-110718T0045Z/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
711 PM CDT SUN JUL 17 2011

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN DICKEY COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST NORTH DAKOTA...

* UNTIL 745 PM CDT

* AT 708 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO. THIS DANGEROUS
  STORM WAS LOCATED 7 MILES WEST OF MERRICOURT...OR 49 MILES SOUTH OF
  JAMESTOWN...AND MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

* THIS DANGEROUS STORM WILL BE NEAR...
  MERRICOURT AROUND 725 PM CDT.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

TAKE COVER NOW. MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A
STURDY BUILDING. AVOID WINDOWS. IF IN A MOBILE HOME...A VEHICLE OR
OUTDOORS...MOVE TO THE CLOSEST SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER AND PROTECT
YOURSELF FROM FLYING DEBRIS.

&&

LAT...LON 4594 9889 4628 9900 4628 9868 4629 9865
      4594 9843
TIME...MOT...LOC 0011Z 324DEG 13KT 4620 9889

$$

VINING

1 follow-up statement

546 
WWUS53 KBIS 180035
SVSBIS

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
735 PM CDT SUN JUL 17 2011

NDC021-180045-
/O.CON.KBIS.TO.W.0068.000000T0000Z-110718T0045Z/
DICKEY ND-
735 PM CDT SUN JUL 17 2011

...A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR WESTERN DICKEY COUNTY
UNTIL 745 PM CDT...

AT 729 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO.  THIS DANGEROUS 
STORM WAS LOCATED JUST SOUTH OF MERRICOURT...OR 53 MILES SOUTH OF 
JAMESTOWN...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

THE DICKEY COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGER REPORTED FUNNEL CLOUDS WITH THIS 
STORM.

THIS DANGEROUS STORM WILL BE NEAR AND SOUTH OF
  MONANGO AROUND 745 PM CDT.

THIS STORM WAS MOVING TOWARDS ELLENDALE AND WILL APPROACH HIGHWAY 
281.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

TAKE COVER NOW. MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A
STURDY BUILDING. AVOID WINDOWS. IF IN A MOBILE HOME...A VEHICLE OR
OUTDOORS...MOVE TO THE CLOSEST SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER AND PROTECT
YOURSELF FROM FLYING DEBRIS.

&&

LAT...LON 4594 9875 4628 9890 4628 9868 4629 9865
      4594 9843
TIME...MOT...LOC 0032Z 302DEG 18KT 4614 9875

$$

VINING

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 17, 7:44 PM CDT	Areal Flood Warning	BIS	Foster	17 hr
Jul 17, 7:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Dickey	59 min
Jul 18, 1:02 AM CDT	Heat Advisory	BIS	Adams, Billings, Bottineau, Bowman, Burke, Divide and 10 more	51 hr
Jul 18, 4:03 PM CDT	Flash Flood Watch	BIS	Burleigh, Dickey, Emmons, Foster, Grant, Kidder and 8 more	6 hr
Jul 18, 5:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Adams	64 min
Jul 18, 6:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Adams, Hettinger	58 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in North Dakota, 2011 Every tornado warning in 2011 Tornadoes in 2011

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.