Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 2011
Tornado Watch 496
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 17, 2011, 7:22 PM CDT for 14 counties in Minnesota. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Jun 17, 2011, 7:22 PM CDT (00:22 UTC)
- Expired
- Jun 18, 2011, 2:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
Counties Chippewa County, MN, Douglas County, MN, Kandiyohi County, MN, Lac qui Parle County, MN, McLeod County, MN, Meeker County, MN, Pope County, MN, Redwood County, MN, Renville County, MN, Sibley County, MN, Stearns County, MN, Stevens County, MN, Swift County, MN, Yellow Medicine County, MN
The radar
The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 170 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:23 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
- 40%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 20%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 5%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 30%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 50%
Warnings issued inside it
8 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 17, 7:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Kandiyohi | 33 min |
| Jun 17, 8:18 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Kandiyohi | 27 min |
| Jun 17, 9:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, Swift | 57 min |
| Jun 17, 9:55 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, Yellow Medicine | 35 min |
| Jun 17, 10:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Le Sueur, Scott, Sibley | 66 min |
| Jun 17, 10:22 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Renville, Swift, Yellow Medicine | 53 min |
| Jun 17, 10:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Carver, Scott, Sibley | 48 min |
| Jun 18, 12:21 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Benton, Morrison, Sherburne, Stearns | 54 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 00:00Z, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 168 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
- 1159 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -30 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1224 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 22 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 92 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 187 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.3
- Supercell composite
- 4.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
994
WWUS20 KWNS 180025
SEL6
SPC WW 180025
MNZ000-180700-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 496
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
720 PM CDT FRI JUN 17 2011
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
PARTS OF WESTERN AND SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA
EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY MORNING FROM 720 PM
UNTIL 200 AM CDT.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 40 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 15 MILES NORTHWEST OF
ALEXANDRIA MINNESOTA TO REDWOOD FALLS MINNESOTA. FOR A COMPLETE
DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE
(WOUS64 KWNS WOU6).
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 492...WW 493...WW
494...WW 495...
DISCUSSION...TSTMS EXPECTED TO PERSIST THROUGH LATE EVE INVOF WEAK
WNW-ESE WARM FRONT LOCATED NEAR/A LITTLE N OF THE MN RVR. OTHER
STORMS MAY MOVE INTO WRN PART OF WW AS FRONTAL CONVECTION MOVES
ENEWD. MODERATE LOW LVL DIRECTIONAL SHEAR...INCREASING LARGE SCALE
ASCENT WITH APPROACH OF ND SHORTWAVE IMPULSE...AND MOIST LOW TO MID
LVL ENVIRONMENT MAY SUPPORT A FEW WEAK SUPERCELLS WITH SUFFICIENT
LOW LVL ROTATION TO YIELD TORNADOES AND PERHAPS LOCALLY DMGG
WIND/MARGINALLY SVR HAIL.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25020.
...CORFIDISPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 17, 7:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Cottonwood, Jackson, Lincoln, Lyon, Murray, Nobles and 2 more | 3 hr |
| Jun 17, 9:01 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Big Stone, Chippewa, Grant, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, McLeod and 10 more | 59 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2011Every tornado 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.