Alert archive / North Dakota / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2021

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 238

June 5, 202122 counties in North Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Jun 5, 2021, 9:21 PM MDT for 22 counties in North Dakota. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 5, 2021, 9:21 PM MDT (03:21 UTC)
Expired: Jun 6, 2021, 2:16 AM MDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 22 counties

Adams County, ND, Billings County, ND, Bowman County, ND, Burleigh County, ND, Dunn County, ND, Foster County, ND, Golden Valley County, ND, Grant County, ND, Hettinger County, ND, Kidder County, ND, McHenry County, ND, McLean County, ND, Mercer County, ND, Morton County, ND, Oliver County, ND, Pierce County, ND, Sheridan County, ND, Slope County, ND, Stark County, ND, Stutsman County, ND, Ward County, ND, Wells County, ND

The radar

The Bismarck radar (KBIS), 81 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:21 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: 5%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 2%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 20%
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: 60%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 5, 10:11 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Billings, Dunn, Stark	37 min
Jun 5, 10:59 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Dunn, Stark	46 min
Jun 5, 11:13 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Burleigh, McLean, Mercer, Oliver	62 min
Jun 5, 11:39 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Dunn, Mercer, Morton, Stark	51 min
Jun 5, 11:43 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Bottineau, McHenry, Renville, Ward	47 min
Jun 6, 12:52 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	McHenry, Pierce, Sheridan, Wells	38 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 00:00Z, 3.4 hours before the alert went out and 85 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: 1639 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -19 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 3032 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 11 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 118 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

562 
WWUS20 KWNS 060317
SEL8  
SPC WW 060317
NDZ000-060900-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
Severe Thunderstorm Watch Number 238
NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
920 PM MDT Sat Jun 5 2021

The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Watch for portions of 
  Southwest into central North Dakota

* Effective this Saturday night and Sunday morning from 920 PM
  until 300 AM MDT.

* Primary threats include...
  Scattered damaging wind gusts to 70 mph possible
  Isolated large hail events to 1.5 inches in diameter possible

SUMMARY...A broken band of high-based thunderstorms may intensify
some in the next few hours while spreading east-northeastward from
southwest into central North Dakota.  Damaging winds will be the
main threat, though isolated large hail may occur with the strongest
storms.

The severe thunderstorm watch area is approximately along and 45
statute miles north and south of a line from 45 miles west southwest
of Dickinson ND to 30 miles south southeast of Devils Lake ND. For a
complete depiction of the watch see the associated watch outline
update (WOUS64 KWNS WOU8).

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

REMEMBER...A Severe Thunderstorm Watch means conditions are
favorable for severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch area.
Persons in these areas should be on the lookout for threatening
weather conditions and listen for later statements and possible
warnings. Severe thunderstorms can and occasionally do produce
tornadoes.

&&

AVIATION...A few severe thunderstorms with hail surface and aloft to
1.5 inches. Extreme turbulence and surface wind gusts to 60 knots. A
few cumulonimbi with maximum tops to 500. Mean storm motion vector
25035.

...Thompson

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 5, 8:15 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Benson, Billings, Bowman, Burleigh, Dunn and 16 more	2 hr
Jun 5, 10:47 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Bowman, Dunn, Grant, Hettinger, McHenry and 8 more	88 min
Jun 6, 12:22 AM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Benson, Burleigh, Cavalier, Eddy, Emmons, Foster and 14 more	113 min
Jun 6, 12:39 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Benson, Cavalier, Eddy, Grand Forks, Griggs, Nelson and 6 more	3 hr
Jun 6, 1:52 AM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	McLean, Oliver, Sheridan, Wells	53 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in North Dakota, 2021 Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2021

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.