Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 2022

Tornado Watch 211

May 12, 202253 counties in Minnesota; 13 counties in North Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 12, 2022, 5:35 PM CDT for 53 counties in Minnesota; 13 counties in North Dakota. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 12, 2022, 5:35 PM CDT (22:35 UTC)
Expired: May 13, 2022, 12:00 AM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 80 kt

All 66 counties

Anoka County, MN, Becker County, MN, Benton County, MN, Big Stone County, MN, Blue Earth County, MN, Brown County, MN, Carver County, MN, Chippewa County, MN, Chisago County, MN, Clay County, MN, Clearwater County, MN, Dakota County, MN, Douglas County, MN, Faribault County, MN, Freeborn County, MN, Grant County, MN, Hennepin County, MN, Hubbard County, MN, Isanti County, MN, Kanabec County, MN, Kandiyohi County, MN, Lac qui Parle County, MN, Le Sueur County, MN, Mahnomen County, MN, Martin County, MN, McLeod County, MN, Meeker County, MN, Mille Lacs County, MN, Morrison County, MN, Nicollet County, MN, Norman County, MN, Otter Tail County, MN, Pope County, MN, Ramsey County, MN, Redwood County, MN, Renville County, MN, Rice County, MN, Scott County, MN, Sherburne County, MN, Sibley County, MN, Stearns County, MN, Steele County, MN, Stevens County, MN, Swift County, MN, Todd County, MN, Traverse County, MN, Wadena County, MN, Waseca County, MN, Washington County, MN, Watonwan County, MN, Wilkin County, MN, Wright County, MN, Yellow Medicine County, MN, Barnes County, ND, Cass County, ND, Dickey County, ND, Griggs County, ND, LaMoure County, ND, Logan County, ND, McIntosh County, ND, Ransom County, ND, Richland County, ND, Sargent County, ND, Steele County, ND, Stutsman County, ND, Traill County, ND

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 193 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:37 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: 60%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 20%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 90%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 70%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 12, 5:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	MPX	Chippewa, Lac qui Parle, Swift, Yellow Medicine	49 min
May 12, 6:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	MPX	Brown, Martin, Nicollet, Redwood, Renville, Watonwan and 1 more	58 min
May 12, 6:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Big Stone	27 min
May 12, 6:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Lac qui Parle, Swift	15 min
May 12, 6:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	MPX	Chippewa, Kandiyohi, Pope, Stevens, Swift	44 min
May 12, 6:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	ABR	Big Stone, Traverse	58 min
May 12, 6:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Big Stone, Traverse	36 min
May 12, 6:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	MPX	Kandiyohi, Meeker, Stearns	64 min
May 12, 6:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	MPX	Lac qui Parle, Yellow Medicine	26 min
May 12, 6:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	BIS	Dickey	63 min
May 12, 6:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	MPX	Kandiyohi, Pope, Stearns, Swift	17 min
May 12, 6:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	FGF	Grant, Otter Tail, Wilkin	58 min
May 12, 6:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Kandiyohi, Renville	13 min
May 12, 6:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	MPX	Brown, McLeod, Nicollet, Redwood, Renville, Sibley	53 min
May 12, 6:53 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ABR	Traverse	22 min
May 12, 6:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Pope	17 min
May 12, 7:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	MPX	Chippewa, Douglas, Kandiyohi, Pope, Stevens, Swift	45 min
May 12, 7:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Blue Earth, Faribault, Martin, Watonwan	58 min
May 12, 7:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	BIS	LaMoure	56 min
May 12, 7:07 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Grant, Otter Tail, Wilkin	23 min
May 12, 7:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	MPX	Benton, Meeker, Morrison, Sherburne, Stearns, Todd and 1 more	67 min
May 12, 7:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Douglas	21 min
May 12, 7:14 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Kandiyohi, Stearns	16 min
May 12, 7:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BIS	Kidder, Stutsman, Wells	47 min
May 12, 7:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Grant, Otter Tail	16 min
May 12, 7:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	MPX	Morrison, Todd	44 min
May 12, 7:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Todd	13 min
May 12, 7:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Morrison, Stearns	9 min
May 12, 7:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Otter Tail	36 min
May 12, 7:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Benton, Morrison, Stearns	16 min
May 12, 7:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Anoka, Carver, Hennepin, McLeod, Meeker, Scott and 3 more	60 min
May 12, 7:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	FGF	Becker, Clay, Clearwater, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Norman and 3 more	58 min
May 12, 7:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Benton, Isanti, Mille Lacs, Sherburne	57 min
May 12, 7:50 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	FGF	Otter Tail, Wadena	28 min
May 12, 7:55 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Benton, Morrison	20 min
May 12, 7:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Morrison	19 min
May 12, 8:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Morrison	12 min
May 12, 8:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison	54 min
May 12, 8:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Anoka, Chisago, Dakota, Ramsey, Washington	39 min
May 12, 8:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Redwood, Yellow Medicine	36 min
May 12, 9:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Brown, Redwood	27 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

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 231 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: 892 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -300 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 877 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 133 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 214 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 11, 7:01 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Blue Earth, Brown, Carver, Cottonwood, Dakota, Dodge and 21 more	59 min
May 11, 7:20 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Becker, Beltrami, Cass, Clay, Clearwater, Hubbard and 8 more	115 min
May 11, 8:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Pine	4 hr
May 11, 9:44 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Chisago, Dodge, Faribault, Freeborn, Goodhue, Kanabec and 6 more	91 min
May 12, 7:38 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Benton, Big Stone, Chippewa, Crow Wing, Douglas, Grant and 14 more	2 hr
May 12, 10:54 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Anoka, Benton, Chisago, Hennepin, Isanti, Kanabec and 7 more	3 hr
May 12, 12:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Aitkin, Anoka, Carlton, Cass, Chisago, Crow Wing and 5 more	5 hr
May 12, 3:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch PDS	SPC	Cottonwood, Jackson, Lincoln, Lyon, Murray, Nobles and 2 more	7 hr
May 12, 4:32 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Murray, Nobles, Pipestone, Rock	58 min
May 12, 5:23 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Big Stone, Grant, Lac qui Parle, Stevens, Traverse	2 hr
May 12, 2:00 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Dickey, Emmons, McIntosh, Sioux	3 hr
May 11, 11:50 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Aurora, Beadle, Bon Homme, Brookings, Brule, Buffalo and 18 more	115 min
May 12, 1:39 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bon Homme, Charles Mix, Yankton	3 hr
May 12, 2:47 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Aurora, Beadle, Bon Homme, Brookings, Brule, Buffalo and 32 more	2 hr
May 12, 3:50 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Beadle, Brookings, Brown, Buffalo, Campbell, Clark and 21 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2022 Tornado Watches in North Dakota, 2022 Every tornado watch in 2022

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.