Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2016

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 400

July 20, 201634 counties in North Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Jul 20, 2016, 3:01 PM MDT for 34 counties in North Dakota. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 20, 2016, 3:01 PM MDT (21:01 UTC)
Expired: Jul 20, 2016, 11:00 PM MDT
In force: 8 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 3 in
Strongest gust expected: 65 kt

All 34 counties

Adams County, ND, Benson County, ND, Bottineau County, ND, Burke County, ND, Burleigh County, ND, Cavalier County, ND, Dickey County, ND, Dunn County, ND, Eddy County, ND, Emmons County, ND, Foster County, ND, Grant County, ND, Hettinger County, ND, Kidder County, ND, LaMoure County, ND, Logan County, ND, McHenry County, ND, McIntosh 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, Stark County, ND, Stutsman County, ND, Towner County, ND, Ward County, ND, Wells County, ND

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 40 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:03 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: 20%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 5%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 30%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 50%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 20, 3:40 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Mountrail, Ward	35 min
Jul 20, 4:12 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Mountrail, Renville, Ward	48 min
Jul 20, 4:44 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McHenry, Ward	61 min
Jul 20, 5:05 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Adams	38 min
Jul 20, 5:42 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McHenry, Pierce	63 min
Jul 20, 5:52 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Grant	68 min
Jul 20, 6:07 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Grant, Hettinger	23 min
Jul 20, 6:12 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Rolette	44 min
Jul 20, 6:25 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Grant	49 min
Jul 20, 6:40 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cavalier, Towner	50 min
Jul 20, 6:41 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McHenry, Pierce	64 min
Jul 20, 6:48 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Oliver	42 min
Jul 20, 6:56 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McLean, Sheridan	64 min
Jul 20, 6:56 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson, Ramsey	49 min
Jul 20, 7:25 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cavalier, Pembina	50 min
Jul 20, 7:27 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McLean, Mercer, Oliver	48 min
Jul 20, 7:30 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Oliver	60 min
Jul 20, 7:39 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McHenry, Pierce	43 min
Jul 20, 7:44 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BIS	Sheridan	31 min
Jul 20, 7:44 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson, Ramsey	46 min
Jul 20, 8:08 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Sheridan, Wells	67 min
Jul 20, 8:10 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Cavalier, Ramsey, Towner	50 min
Jul 20, 8:11 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson, Eddy, Griggs, Nelson	64 min
Jul 20, 8:17 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Sheridan, Wells	58 min
Jul 20, 8:27 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Burleigh, Morton, Oliver	33 min
Jul 20, 8:28 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson, Nelson, Ramsey	47 min
Jul 20, 8:43 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Eddy, Griggs, Nelson	32 min
Jul 20, 9:00 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Burleigh, Foster, Kidder, Sheridan, Stutsman, Wells	60 min
Jul 20, 9:10 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FGF	Benson, Eddy, Grand Forks, Griggs, Nelson, Ramsey and 2 more	65 min
Jul 20, 9:58 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Foster, Stutsman	40 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, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 42 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: 2285 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -286 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1417 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 27 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 205 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 19, 7:10 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cass, Grand Forks, Steele, Traill	95 min
Jul 20, 2:43 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Benson, Bottineau, Burleigh, Emmons, Grant and 16 more	92 min
Jul 20, 4:39 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Benson, Bottineau, Cavalier, McHenry, Pierce, Ramsey and 4 more	5 hr
Jul 20, 4:43 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Benson, Bottineau, McHenry, Pierce, Renville, Rolette and 2 more	62 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in North Dakota, 2016 Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2016

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.