7/17/10 NOW: MN, ND, SD

[Jeff Duda]

Tornado warned storm has explosively developed NW of St. Cloud in the last hour. Doug Kiesling has reported a wall cloud in the area within the last 30 minutes. Storm appears to have developed right along the warm front that extends through C MN, right along a strong SBCAPE gradient and a region of enhanced lift and low level shear. Deep layer shear is not quite as good to the southeast of the storm, but the better shear will likely move southeast as the storm does.

Watching the SN dots on GR2 it seems funny how until about 10 minutes ago, despite the presence of this storm, the wall cloud report, and the tornado warning, most chasers do not appear to be drawn to the storm. That is slowly changing now as I've seen more arrows turn towards it.

 

[Matthew Piechota]

that storm really took off, talk about the mesocyclone rapidly intensifying, wow. appears to be right on the boundary now and currently has 95kt gtg at 9k. a very impressive storm. really wish I was on that right now.

 

[Logan Karsten]

I find it very discerning that there is a hook echo going over Sauk Centre, MN right now and there is no tornado warning that has been issued.

 

[ahaberlie]

Yeah there is definitely a couplet in the velocity data as well..not sure what is going on.

*nevermind.. warned again now.

 

[Jeff Duda]

Wow, the storm west of Minneapolis literally vaporized about an hour ago. Haven't been able to find an obvious cause. Perhaps the CAPE gradient shifted so that the storm moved into an area of little instability. 700 mb temps don't seem to warrant the cause for the quick death of the storm, although there is a dry bubble at 850 mb very near where the storm died and CIN is up there, but not as high as in other areas. Interesting.

On another hand, there is quite a strong reflectivity signature of a boundary running WNW-ESE SW of the Twin Cities currently. It appears to be the surface warm front, as winds north of it are due east and it is much cooler. SPC mesoanalyses show surface moisture convergence is maxed out there, so would not be surprised if more storms tried to initiate there over the next few hours.

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

Nice couplet E of Brookings right now.

 

[Jeff Duda]

Um...

So Paul Sirvatka reported a tornado on the ground northeast of Woodstock, MN 10 minutes ago yet there is no tornado warning for the storm. The storm is exiting the tornado watch, too.

 

[Matthew Piechota]

Yep, talked to paul earlier, said it was a nice short-lived cone tornado, storm was not even warned. been a weird day with MPX not having tor warnings on storms when there should of been there.

 

[ahaberlie]

I've heard of NWS offices calling funnels non-dangerous and not putting a warning out. I would think if there was a tornado on the ground that would immediately warrant a warning.

 

[Jeff Duda]

Yep, talked to paul earlier, said it was a nice short-lived cone tornado, storm was not even warned. been a weird day with MPX not having tor warnings on storms when there should of been there.

Seems like many offices have been doing something like that today.