Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 2012
Tornado Watch 223
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 1, 2012, 6:10 PM CDT for 22 counties in Minnesota; 8 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 1, 2012, 6:10 PM CDT (23:10 UTC)
- Expired
- May 2, 2012, 12:14 AM CDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 30 counties
Anoka County, MN, Blue Earth County, MN, Brown County, MN, Carver County, MN, Chisago County, MN, Dakota County, MN, Faribault County, MN, Freeborn County, MN, Goodhue County, MN, Hennepin County, MN, Isanti County, MN, Kanabec County, MN, Le Sueur County, MN, Martin County, MN, Pine County, MN, Ramsey County, MN, Rice County, MN, Scott County, MN, Steele County, MN, Waseca County, MN, Washington County, MN, Watonwan County, MN, Barron County, WI, Burnett County, WI, Dunn County, WI, Pepin County, WI, Pierce County, WI, Polk County, WI, Saint Croix County, WI, Washburn County, WI
The radar
The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 14 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:13 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
- 40%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 50%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 20%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 40%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 20%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 90%
Warnings issued inside it
7 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1, 6:14 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Isanti, Sherburne | 46 min |
| May 1, 6:43 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Brown, Redwood | 62 min |
| May 1, 7:24 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Carver, McLeod, Sibley | 51 min |
| May 1, 7:30 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec | 45 min |
| May 1, 8:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Anoka, Chisago, Isanti | 37 min |
| May 1, 8:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Brown, Nicollet, Sibley | 66 min |
| May 1, 8:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Brown, Redwood | 25 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 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 17 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1291 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 163 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 196 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1, 2:30 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Big Stone, Blue Earth, Brown, Chippewa, Cottonwood, Douglas and 24 more | 60 min |
| May 1, 2:59 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Benton, Big Stone, Brown, Chippewa, Cottonwood, Douglas and 31 more | 6 hr |
| May 1, 6:11 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Anoka, Benton, Blue Earth, Brown, Carver, Chippewa and 36 more | 94 min |
| May 1, 6:57 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Kittson, Lake of the Woods, Marshall, Pennington, Polk, Roseau | 2 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2012Tornado Watches in Wisconsin, 2012Every tornado watch 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.