Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2015

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 120, NWS Grand Forks, ND

August 13, 2015Otter Tail County, Wadena County, Minnesota

NWS Grand Forks, ND issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 13, 2015, 12:42 AM CDT for Otter Tail County, Wadena County, Minnesota. It was in force for 48 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 13, 2015, 12:42 AM CDT (05:42 UTC)
Expired: Aug 13, 2015, 1:30 AM CDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Forks, ND
Area: Storm-based polygon
Hail: 2.0 in
Wind: 50.0 mph

Counties Otter Tail County, MN, Wadena County, MN

The radar

The Fargo/Grand Forks radar (KMVX), 189 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:43 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Aug 12, 3:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	9 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 00:00Z, 5.7 hours before the alert went out and 228 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: 183 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -142 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1528 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 81 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

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

NWS Grand Forks, ND wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 13, 12:07 AM CDT, 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 13, 12:07 AM CDT, 35 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 12, 8:41 AM CDT, 16 hours 1 minute before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
841 AM CDT WED AUG 12 2015

MNZ001>009-013>017-022>024-027>032-040-NDZ006>008-014>016-024-
026>030-038-039-049-052>054-130930-
WEST POLK-NORMAN-CLAY-KITTSON-ROSEAU-LAKE OF THE WOODS-
WEST MARSHALL-EAST MARSHALL-NORTH BELTRAMI-PENNINGTON-RED LAKE-
EAST POLK-NORTH CLEARWATER-SOUTH BELTRAMI-MAHNOMEN-
SOUTH CLEARWATER-HUBBARD-WEST BECKER-EAST BECKER-WILKIN-
WEST OTTER TAIL-EAST OTTER TAIL-WADENA-GRANT-TOWNER-CAVALIER-
PEMBINA-BENSON-RAMSEY-EASTERN WALSH COUNTY-EDDY-NELSON-
GRAND FORKS-GRIGGS-STEELE-TRAILL-BARNES-CASS-RANSOM-SARGENT-
RICHLAND-WESTERN WALSH COUNTY-
841 AM CDT WED AUG 12 2015

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN NORTH
DAKOTA...WEST CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST MINNESOTA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

ISOLATED TO WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE LATE THIS
AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING...WITH A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE STORMS
OVER PARTS OF NORTHEASTERN NORTH DAKOTA INTO NORTHWESTERN MINNESOTA.
THE MAIN THREATS ARE HAIL GREATER THAN 1 INCH IN DIAMETER AND
DAMAGING WIND GUSTS.

HEAT INDICES COULD REACH THE MID TO UPPER 90S FOR A SHORT TIME
THIS AFTERNOON MAINLY ALONG AND WEST OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

A FEW SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER PARTS OF EASTERN
NORTH DAKOTA ON THURSDAY...WITH HIGHER CHANCES OVER THE REGION
LATER SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED.

JAM

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 12, 11:08 PM CDT, 1 hour 34 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
1108 PM CDT WED AUG 12 2015

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1030 PM     HAIL             6 N BAGLEY              47.61N 95.40W
08/12/2015  E1.00 INCH       CLEARWATER         MN   BROADCAST MEDIA

            REPORT POSTED TO SOCIAL MEDIA. TIME ESTIMATED BASED ON
            RADAR.

&&

GGUST

Local storm report, Aug 12, 11:28 PM CDT, 1 hour 14 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
1128 PM CDT WED AUG 12 2015

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1110 PM     HAIL             1 N LAKE ITASCA         47.27N 95.21W
08/12/2015  E1.00 INCH       CLEARWATER         MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

            LARGE HAIL CONTINUED FOR NEARLY 10 MINUTES.

&&

GGUST

Local storm report, Aug 12, 11:40 PM CDT, 1 hour 2 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EASTERN ND/GRAND FORKS ND
1140 PM CDT WED AUG 12 2015

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1133 PM     HAIL             10 ESE BEAULIEU         47.28N 95.61W
08/12/2015  E1.75 INCH       MAHNOMEN           MN   TRAINED SPOTTER

            HAIL FROM QUARTER TO GOLF BALL SIZED FELL FOR A FEW
            MINUTES.

&&

GGUST

Local storm report, Aug 13, 12:12 AM CDT, 30 minutes before

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Local storm report, Aug 13, 12:25 AM CDT, 17 minutes before

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Local storm report, Aug 13, 12:29 AM CDT, 13 minutes before

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The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 12, 7:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Kittson, Marshall, Roseau	66 min
Aug 12, 7:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Kittson, Marshall, Roseau	39 min
Aug 12, 8:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Kittson, Marshall, Pennington, Roseau	62 min
Aug 12, 8:16 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	FGF	Lake of the Woods	59 min
Aug 12, 9:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Marshall, Pennington, Red Lake	65 min
Aug 12, 9:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Pennington, Polk, Red Lake	63 min
Aug 12, 10:03 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	FGF	Mahnomen	42 min
Aug 12, 10:05 PM CDT	Special Weather Statement	FGF	Clearwater	55 min
Aug 12, 10:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Beltrami, Clearwater, Polk	55 min
Aug 12, 10:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Becker, Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Polk	63 min
Aug 12, 11:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Becker, Clearwater, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Otter Tail, Wadena	62 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Minnesota, 2015 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.