Alert archive / Minnesota / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2020

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 447

August 21, 202034 counties in Minnesota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Aug 21, 2020, 6:20 PM CDT for 34 counties in Minnesota. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Aug 21, 2020, 6:20 PM CDT (23:20 UTC)
Expired
Aug 22, 2020, 2:00 AM CDT
In force
8 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 34 counties

Blue Earth County, MN, Brown County, MN, Carver County, MN, Chippewa County, MN, Cottonwood County, MN, Dakota County, MN, Faribault County, MN, Freeborn County, MN, Hennepin County, MN, Jackson County, MN, Kandiyohi County, MN, Lac qui Parle County, MN, Le Sueur County, MN, Lincoln County, MN, Lyon County, MN, Martin County, MN, McLeod County, MN, Meeker County, MN, Murray County, MN, Nicollet County, MN, Pope County, MN, Redwood County, MN, Renville County, MN, Rice County, MN, Scott County, MN, Sibley County, MN, Stearns County, MN, Steele County, MN, Stevens County, MN, Swift County, MN, Waseca County, MN, Watonwan County, MN, Wright County, MN, Yellow Medicine County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:22 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
10%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
5%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
10%
Ten or more severe hail reports
20%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
10%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
50%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 21, 6:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMPXPope, Stevens, Swift51 min
Aug 21, 7:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMPXChippewa, Kandiyohi, Pope, Swift55 min
Aug 22, 1:22 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningMPXBlue Earth, Brown, Nicollet4 hr

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Aberdeen, SD (KABR), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 258 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, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 2020-08-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1536 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, Aberdeen, SD at 12:00Z on 2020-08-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 16 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
1536 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-277 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1392 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
36 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 21, 5:02 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBig Stone, Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, Redwood, Stevens and 2 more58 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Minnesota, 2020Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2020

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.