Alert archive / Michigan / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 34, NWS Gaylord, MI

July 20, 1987Lake County, Michigan

NWS Gaylord, MI issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 20, 1987, 4:51 PM EDT for Lake County, Michigan. It was in force for 69 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 20, 1987, 4:51 PM EDT (20:51 UTC)
Expired
Jul 20, 1987, 6:00 PM EDT
In force
69 min
Issued by
NWS Gaylord, MI
Area
Whole counties

County Lake 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, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 191 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, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 1987-07-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 3840 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, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 1987-07-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 20 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
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 202107 COR
SVRMKG
MIC085-202200-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 600 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
COUNTY OF

WEST CENTRAL LOWER MICHIGAN...LAKE

AT 445PM EDT RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN LAKE COUNTY
25 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CADILLAC MICHIGAN. THIS STORM WAS MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.

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 20 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 20, 4:35 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAPXGrand Traverse, Kalkaska, Missaukee, Wexford55 min
Jul 20, 4:57 PM EDTTornado WarningAPXKalkaska, Missaukee, Wexford33 min
Jul 20, 4:57 PM EDTTornado WarningAPXGrand Traverse28 min
Jul 20, 5:16 PM EDTTornado WarningAPXOsceola29 min
Jul 20, 5:27 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAPXOscoda53 min
Jul 20, 5:42 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAPXAlcona, Oscoda63 min
Jul 20, 5:59 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAPXAlcona, Iosco46 min
Jul 20, 6:26 PM EDTTornado WarningAPXAlcona34 min
Jul 20, 6:56 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningAPXAlcona, Alpena, Iosco64 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Michigan, 1987Every 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.