Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2018

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 301

July 21, 20184 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Jul 21, 2018, 4:11 PM MDT for 4 states. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 21, 2018, 4:11 PM MDT (22:11 UTC)
Expired
Jul 21, 2018, 11:00 PM MDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 25 counties

Carter County, MT, Fallon County, MT, Richland County, MT, Wibaux County, MT, Adams County, ND, Billings County, ND, Bowman County, ND, Dunn County, ND, Golden Valley County, ND, Hettinger County, ND, McKenzie County, ND, Slope County, ND, Stark County, ND, Williams County, ND, Butte County, SD, Custer County, SD, Fall River County, SD, Harding County, SD, Lawrence County, SD, Meade County, SD, Oglala Lakota County, SD, Pennington County, SD, Perkins County, SD, Crook County, WY, Weston County, WY

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 233 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:14 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
2%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
20%
Ten or more severe hail reports
60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
40%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 21, 4:20 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGGWRichland, Roosevelt40 min
Jul 21, 4:26 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBYZCarter34 min
Jul 21, 4:34 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBYZCarter56 min
Jul 21, 4:42 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBYZCarter35 min
Jul 21, 4:49 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRCampbell, Weston56 min
Jul 21, 4:53 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGGWRichland, Roosevelt67 min
Jul 21, 4:56 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISMcKenzie, Williams64 min
Jul 21, 5:21 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRLawrence, Meade, Pennington54 min
Jul 21, 5:25 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBYZCarter22 min
Jul 21, 5:41 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRCampbell, Weston38 min
Jul 21, 5:56 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISDunn, McKenzie, Williams64 min
Jul 21, 6:12 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISGolden Valley, Slope48 min
Jul 21, 6:13 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRLawrence, Pennington62 min
Jul 21, 6:23 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRCampbell, Weston39 min
Jul 21, 6:34 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBillings, Golden Valley, Slope, Stark36 min
Jul 21, 6:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRMeade, Pennington30 min
Jul 21, 6:56 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBillings, Dunn64 min
Jul 21, 7:01 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRCuster, Pennington59 min
Jul 21, 7:14 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBISBillings, Golden Valley31 min
Jul 21, 7:16 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRMeade, Pennington59 min
Jul 21, 7:16 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRWeston44 min
Jul 21, 7:23 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningUNRMeade, Pennington3 hr
Jul 21, 7:59 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningUNRPennington3 hr
Jul 21, 8:06 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningUNRPennington39 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

Glasgow Intl Airport, MT (KGGW), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 315 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, Glasgow Intl Airport, MT at 12:00Z on 2018-07-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 637 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, Glasgow Intl Airport, MT at 12:00Z on 2018-07-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 294 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
637 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-421 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1463 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
294 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
287 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 21, 11:53 AM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDaniels, McCone, Richland, Roosevelt, Sheridan, Valley3 hr
Jul 21, 1:53 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCarter, Custer, Fallon, Powder River, Prairie, Wibaux3 hr
Jul 21, 5:18 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCarter, Dawson, Fallon, Richland, Wibaux87 min
Jul 21, 12:50 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCuster, Fall River2 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in North Dakota, 2018Severe Thunderstorm Watches in South Dakota, 2018Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Montana, 2018Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2018

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.