Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2011

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 650

July 17, 201114 counties in Minnesota; 20 counties in North Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Jul 17, 2011, 9:58 AM CDT for 14 counties in Minnesota; 20 counties in North Dakota. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 17, 2011, 9:58 AM CDT (14:58 UTC)
Expired
Jul 17, 2011, 5:00 PM CDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2.5 in
Strongest gust expected
70 kt
All 34 counties

Becker County, MN, Beltrami County, MN, Clay County, MN, Clearwater County, MN, Hubbard County, MN, Kittson County, MN, Lake of the Woods County, MN, Mahnomen County, MN, Marshall County, MN, Norman County, MN, Pennington County, MN, Polk County, MN, Red Lake County, MN, Roseau County, MN, Barnes County, ND, Benson County, ND, Cass County, ND, Cavalier County, ND, Eddy County, ND, Foster County, ND, Grand Forks County, ND, Griggs County, ND, McHenry County, ND, Nelson County, ND, Pembina County, ND, Pierce County, ND, Ramsey County, ND, Rolette County, ND, Sheridan County, ND, Steele County, ND, Towner County, ND, Traill County, ND, Walsh County, ND, Wells County, ND

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 104 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:01 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
20%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
5%
Ten or more severe wind reports
80%
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
60%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 17, 10:13 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISMcHenry, Ward47 min
Jul 17, 10:25 AM CDTTornado WarningBISMcHenry, McLean, Sheridan, Ward35 min
Jul 17, 10:57 AM CDTTornado WarningBISMcHenry, McLean, Pierce, Sheridan33 min
Jul 17, 11:26 AM CDTTornado WarningBISMcHenry, Pierce, Sheridan, Wells49 min
Jul 17, 11:45 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFBenson60 min
Jul 17, 12:13 PM CDTTornado WarningBISWells32 min
Jul 17, 12:33 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFEddy42 min
Jul 17, 12:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISWells16 min
Jul 17, 1:11 PM CDTTornado WarningBISFoster64 min
Jul 17, 1:11 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFEddy49 min
Jul 17, 2:11 PM CDTTornado WarningBISFoster, Stutsman49 min
Jul 17, 2:24 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFBarnes, Griggs36 min
Jul 17, 2:33 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningBISFoster6 hr
Jul 17, 2:57 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFBarnes, Griggs48 min
Jul 17, 3:34 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFBarnes, Griggs, Steele41 min
Jul 17, 4:12 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFBarnes, Cass63 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, 3.0 hours before the alert went out and 233 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 2011-07-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 4227 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 2011-07-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 156 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
4227 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-184 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1037 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
156 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
276 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
37.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 16, 9:25 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBecker, Beltrami, Clay, Clearwater, Kittson, Lake of the Woods and 7 more95 min
Jul 16, 11:37 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBecker, Beltrami, Clay, Clearwater, Hubbard, Kittson and 9 more23 min
Jul 17, 9:15 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBecker, Clay, Clearwater, Kittson, Mahnomen, Marshall and 4 more2 hr
Jul 17, 10:24 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBecker, Clay, Clearwater, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Norman and 5 more66 min
Jul 17, 12:49 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBecker, Clay, Clearwater, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Norman and 3 more3 hr
Jul 17, 1:42 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAitkin, Becker, Beltrami, Benton, Cass, Clay and 18 more93 min
Jul 17, 3:37 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBecker, Clay, Grant, Otter Tail, Wadena, Wilkin6 hr
Jul 17, 4:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAitkin, Benton, Carlton, Cass, Chippewa, Cook and 19 more7 hr
Jul 17, 6:34 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBig Stone, Traverse56 min
Jul 17, 11:01 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenson, Eddy, Foster, Grand Forks, Nelson, Ramsey89 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in North Dakota, 2011Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Minnesota, 2011Every severe thunderstorm watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.