Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 2012

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Twin Cities, MN

May 2, 2012Chippewa County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this tornado warning at May 2, 2012, 11:00 PM CDT for Chippewa County, Minnesota. It was in force for 45 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 2, 2012, 11:00 PM CDT (04:00 UTC)
Expired: May 2, 2012, 11:45 PM CDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Storm-based polygon

County Chippewa County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 158 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:04 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 00:00Z, 4.0 hours before the alert went out and 156 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: 84 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -59 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1937 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 134 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

461 
WFUS53 KMPX 030400
TORMPX
MNC023-030445-
/O.NEW.KMPX.TO.W.0021.120503T0400Z-120503T0445Z/

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
1100 PM CDT WED MAY 2 2012

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN THE TWIN CITIES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHEASTERN CHIPPEWA COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA...

* UNTIL 1145 PM CDT

* AT 1054 PM CDT...RADAR WAS TRACKING A SEVERE STORM WITH STRONG
  ROTATION. THE MOST DANGEROUS PART OF THE STORM WAS 10 MILES
  NORTHWEST OF GLUEK...OR ABOUT 8 MILES EAST OF WATSON...AND MOVING
  EAST AT 25 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE...
  GLUEK...
  CLARA CITY...

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

WHEN A TORNADO WARNING IS ISSUED BASED ON RADAR...IT MEANS THAT
STRONG ROTATION HAS BEEN DETECTED IN THE STORM. A TORNADO MAY ALREADY
BE ON THE GROUND...OR IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP SHORTLY.

&&

LAT...LON 4515 9571 4515 9561 4515 9525 4493 9526
      4499 9575
TIME...MOT...LOC 0400Z 275DEG 23KT 4505 9559

$$

2 follow-up statements

522 
WWUS53 KMPX 030415
SVSMPX

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
1115 PM CDT WED MAY 2 2012

MNC023-030445-
/O.CON.KMPX.TO.W.0021.000000T0000Z-120503T0445Z/
CHIPPEWA MN-
1115 PM CDT WED MAY 2 2012

...A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR NORTHEASTERN CHIPPEWA
COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA UNTIL 1145 PM CDT...

AT 1113 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO.  THIS DANGEROUS STORM
WAS LOCATED NEAR GLUEK...OR 13 MILES NORTHEAST OF MONTEVIDEO...MOVING
EAST AT 25 MPH.

LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
  CLARA CITY.
  GLUEK.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

TORNADOES ARE DIFFICULT TO SEE AT NIGHT. TAKE COVER NOW.

&&

LAT...LON 4498 9568 4515 9560 4515 9547 4515 9525
      4493 9526
TIME...MOT...LOC 0415Z 275DEG 23KT 4505 9547

$$

911 
WWUS53 KMPX 030432
SVSMPX

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
1132 PM CDT WED MAY 2 2012

MNC023-030445-
/O.CON.KMPX.TO.W.0021.000000T0000Z-120503T0445Z/
CHIPPEWA MN-
1132 PM CDT WED MAY 2 2012

...A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR NORTHEASTERN CHIPPEWA
COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA UNTIL 1145 PM CDT...

AT 1127 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO.  THIS DANGEROUS STORM
WAS LOCATED 6 MILES NORTH OF CLARA CITY...OR 16 MILES WEST OF
WILLMAR...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
  MAINLY RURAL AREAS OF EXTREME EASTERN CHIPPEWA COUNTY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

TORNADOES ARE DIFFICULT TO SEE AT NIGHT. TAKE COVER NOW.

&&

LAT...LON 4497 9558 4515 9550 4515 9525 4493 9526
TIME...MOT...LOC 0432Z 275DEG 23KT 4504 9531

$$

The office that day

Everything else NWS Twin Cities, MN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 7:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Brown	63 min
May 2, 7:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Goodhue	61 min
May 2, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Goodhue, Rice, Steele	60 min
May 2, 7:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Rice, Steele, Waseca	28 min
May 2, 7:51 PM CDT	Areal Flood Advisory	MPX	Goodhue, Rice	3 hr
May 2, 7:58 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	MPX	Nicollet	62 min
May 2, 8:22 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MPX	Goodhue	3 hr
May 2, 8:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Goodhue	33 min
May 2, 8:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Goodhue	29 min
May 2, 9:08 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	MPX	Lac qui Parle	52 min
May 2, 9:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, Swift	50 min
May 2, 10:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Chippewa, Lac qui Parle	44 min
May 2, 10:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Pope, Stevens, Swift	48 min
May 2, 10:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Chippewa, Lac qui Parle	35 min
May 2, 10:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Pope, Swift	50 min
May 2, 11:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Chippewa, Kandiyohi	59 min
May 3, 12:47 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	MPX	Meeker, Stearns	58 min
May 3, 1:05 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Meeker	55 min
May 3, 1:59 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	MPX	Anoka, Carver, Hennepin, Sherburne, Wright	76 min
May 3, 6:24 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Douglas, Todd	36 min
May 3, 6:49 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Douglas, Morrison, Todd	41 min
May 3, 7:34 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Benton, Morrison	41 min
May 3, 7:57 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	MPX	Scott	48 min
May 3, 8:31 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Le Sueur, Rice, Scott	59 min
May 3, 9:00 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	MPX	Wright	45 min
May 3, 9:37 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	MPX	Anoka, Carver, Hennepin, Ramsey	38 min
May 3, 10:12 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	MPX	Le Sueur	48 min
May 3, 10:22 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Dakota, Washington	56 min
May 3, 10:36 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Washington	30 min
May 3, 10:55 AM CDT	Special Weather Statement	MPX	Goodhue, Rice	50 min
May 3, 3:05 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	MPX	Steele, Waseca	40 min
May 3, 3:37 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	MPX	Steele	38 min
May 3, 4:25 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	MPX	Faribault	50 min
May 3, 6:19 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	MPX	Waseca	26 min
May 3, 6:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Waseca	20 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 2012 Every tornado warning in 2012 Tornadoes in 2012

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.