Alert archive / North Dakota / Blizzard Watches in 2015

Blizzard Watch 1, NWS Bismarck, ND

January 7, 20156 counties in North Dakota

NWS Bismarck, ND issued this blizzard watch at Jan 7, 2015, 9:09 AM CST for 6 counties in North Dakota. It took effect at Jan 8, 2015, 9:00 AM CST. It was in force for .

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jan 7, 2015, 9:09 AM CST (15:09 UTC)
In effect from: Jan 8, 2015, 9:00 AM CST
Expired: Jan 7, 2015, 3:55 PM CST
In force
Issued by: NWS Bismarck, ND

Counties Bottineau County, ND, Foster County, ND, McHenry County, ND, Pierce County, ND, Rolette County, ND, Wells County, ND

The radar

The Minot AFB radar (KMBX), 70 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:08 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

Bismarck Municip, ND (KBIS), launched 12:00Z, 3.2 hours before the alert went out and 166 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1111 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 78 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 160 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 231 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this blizzard watch went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Bismarck, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before this blizzard watch went out at Jan 7, 8:53 AM CST, 16 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 7, 8:53 AM CST, 16 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 7, 6:38 AM CST, 2 hours 31 minutes before

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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jan 7, 3:13 AM CST, 5 hours 56 minutes before

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The office that day

Everything else NWS Bismarck, ND issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 7, 6:32 AM CST	Wind Chill Advisory	BIS	Adams, Billings, Bowman, Golden Valley, Hettinger, Slope and 1 more	5 hr
Jan 7, 3:55 PM CST	Blizzard Warning	BIS	Bottineau, Foster, McHenry, Pierce, Rolette, Stutsman and 1 more	26 hr
Jan 7, 3:55 PM CST	Winter Weather Advisory	BIS	Adams, Billings, Bottineau, Bowman, Burke, Burleigh and 23 more	26 hr

Nearby

Blizzard Watches in North Dakota, 2015 Every blizzard watch in 2015

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.