Alert archive / Michigan / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 33, NWS Gaylord, MI

July 20, 19874 counties in Michigan

NWS Gaylord, MI issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 20, 1987, 4:35 PM EDT for 4 counties in Michigan. It was in force for 55 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 20, 1987, 4:35 PM EDT (20:35 UTC)
Expired: Jul 20, 1987, 5:30 PM EDT
In force: 55 min
Issued by: NWS Gaylord, MI
Area: Whole counties

Counties Grand Traverse County, MI, Kalkaska County, MI, Missaukee County, MI, Wexford County, MI

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 220 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: 3840 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 653 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 20 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 73 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KMKG 202035
SVRMKG
MIC055-079-165-113-202130-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MUSKEGON MI
435 PM EDT MON JUL 20 1987

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 530 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTIES OF

NORTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN...SOUTHEAST GRAND TRAVERSE...SOUTHWEST 
 KALKASKA...NORTHEAST WEXFORD AND NORTHWEST MISSAUKEE

AT 430 PM EDT RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES
SOUTHEAST OF TRAVERSE CITY BETWEEN THE CITIES OF WALTON AND SOUTH
BOARDMAN IN GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY. THIS STORM WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST
AT 45 MPH.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM..GET TO A REINFORCED BUIL~DING.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE STRONG DAMAGING WIND..LARGE HAIL..VERY
HEAVY RAIN..AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. THEY OCCASIONALLY DO SPAWN A
TORNADO WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING..SO BE ON THE LOOKOUT.

SPLITT

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 20, 11:31 AM EDT, 5 hours 4 minutes before

STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALPENA MI
1100 AM EDT MON JUL 20 1987

REPORT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORM..SOUTHWEST ALPENA COUNTY..SUNDAY JULY 19

1905 EDT 2305Z  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM HEAVILY DAMAGED BEAVER LAKE PARK..
                20 MILES SOUTHWEST OF ALPENA. HEAVY DOWNPOUR WITH
                SOUND OF FREIGHT TRAIN. STEADY INTENSE EAST WIND
                RESULTED IN AT LEAST 60 TREES UPROOTED OR BROKEN OFF
                NEAR BASE. MOST TREES 2 FEET OR MORE IN DIAMETER AND
                NEARLY ALL FELL TOWARD THE WEST. TWO PEOPLE IN CAMPER
                INJURED AND HOSPITALIZED. EXTENT OF INJURIES UNKNOWN
                AT THIS TIME. ONE SHED DESTROYED.

                TIM&E REPORTS INCONSISTENT. BEST ESTIMATE OF TIME OF
                DAMAGE BETWEEN 1905 AND 1935 EDT.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Gaylord, MI issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 20, 4:51 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Lake	69 min
Jul 20, 4:57 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	APX	Kalkaska, Missaukee, Wexford	33 min
Jul 20, 4:57 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	APX	Grand Traverse	28 min
Jul 20, 5:16 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	APX	Osceola	29 min
Jul 20, 5:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Oscoda	53 min
Jul 20, 5:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Alcona, Oscoda	63 min
Jul 20, 5:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Alcona, Iosco	46 min
Jul 20, 6:26 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	APX	Alcona	34 min
Jul 20, 6:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Alcona, Alpena, Iosco	64 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Michigan, 1987 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1987

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.