Alert archive / North Dakota / Tornado Watches in 2013

Tornado Watch 428

July 21, 201333 counties in North Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 21, 2013, 2:43 PM CDT for 33 counties in North Dakota. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 21, 2013, 2:43 PM CDT (19:43 UTC)
Expired
Jul 21, 2013, 10:00 PM CDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 33 counties

Benson County, ND, Bottineau County, ND, Burke County, ND, Burleigh County, ND, Dickey County, ND, Divide County, ND, Dunn County, ND, Eddy County, ND, Emmons County, ND, Foster County, ND, Grant County, ND, Kidder County, ND, LaMoure County, ND, Logan County, ND, McHenry County, ND, McIntosh County, ND, McKenzie County, ND, McLean County, ND, Mercer County, ND, Morton County, ND, Mountrail County, ND, Oliver County, ND, Pierce County, ND, Ramsey County, ND, Renville County, ND, Rolette County, ND, Sheridan County, ND, Sioux County, ND, Stutsman County, ND, Towner County, ND, Ward County, ND, Wells County, ND, Williams County, ND

The radar

The Minot AFB radar (KMBX), 47 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:46 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
10%
Ten or more severe hail reports
60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 21, 2:51 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISDunn, McKenzie54 min
Jul 21, 3:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISMcKenzie, Mountrail, Williams68 min
Jul 21, 3:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISMountrail, Williams26 min
Jul 21, 3:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBurke, Ward66 min
Jul 21, 3:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISMountrail66 min
Jul 21, 3:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBillings, Dunn, McKenzie61 min
Jul 21, 4:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISMcKenzie, McLean, Mountrail54 min
Jul 21, 4:41 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningBISMountrail6 hr
Jul 21, 4:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISDunn, Mercer, Morton, Oliver60 min
Jul 21, 4:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISMcLean, Mountrail, Ward62 min
Jul 21, 5:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISDunn, Mercer, Morton, Stark38 min
Jul 21, 5:39 PM CDTTornado WarningBISMcHenry51 min
Jul 21, 5:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISGrant, Morton62 min
Jul 21, 5:54 PM CDTTornado WarningBISGrant, Morton36 min
Jul 21, 6:03 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedBISMcHenry42 min
Jul 21, 6:28 PM CDTTornado WarningBISGrant, Morton32 min
Jul 21, 6:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBurleigh, Grant, Morton, Oliver, Sioux52 min
Jul 21, 6:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISMcHenry, Pierce66 min
Jul 21, 7:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISEmmons, Sioux67 min
Jul 21, 7:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISEmmons, Morton, Sioux56 min
Jul 21, 7:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBurleigh, Emmons, Morton67 min
Jul 21, 8:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISEmmons, Sioux53 min
Jul 21, 9:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFRamsey, Towner, Walsh58 min
Jul 21, 9:07 PM CDTTornado WarningFGFRamsey, Walsh38 min
Jul 21, 9:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGFGrand Forks, Nelson, Ramsey, Walsh61 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, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 172 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 2013-07-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 18 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 2013-07-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 107 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
18 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-169 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
609 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
107 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
175 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 21, 2:10 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenson, Bottineau, Burleigh, Dunn, Kidder, McHenry and 10 more95 min
Jul 21, 5:27 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Sioux63 min
Jul 21, 5:45 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenson, Bottineau, Burke, Dunn, Eddy, Foster and 12 more60 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in North Dakota, 2013Every tornado watch in 2013

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.