Alert archive / Michigan / Tornado Warnings in 1987
Tornado Warning 9, NWS Detroit, MI
NWS Detroit, MI issued this tornado warning at Sep 17, 1987, 7:32 PM EDT for Macomb County, Oakland County, Michigan. It was in force for 28 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Sep 17, 1987, 7:32 PM EDT (23:32 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 17, 1987, 8:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 28 min
- Issued by
- NWS Detroit, MI
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Macomb County, MI, Oakland 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
Detroit, MI (KFNT), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 24 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1183 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -39 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 612 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 20 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 107 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 121 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.6
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KDTW 172332 TORDTW MIC125-099-180000- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT MI 732 PM EDT THU SEP 17 1987 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 800 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES OF SOUTHEAST LOWER MICHIGAN...EASTERN OAKLAND AND WESTERN MACOMB AT 720PM EDT TWO REPORTS OF A FUNNEL CLOUDS WERE RECEIVED OVER THE EAST SIDE OF THE CITY OF PONTIAC. THIS FUNNEL WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR WHICH SHOULD TAKE IT INTO WESTERN MACOMB COUNTY. IF YOU ARE IN AN AREA THREATENED BY THE STORM..GO TO A REINFORCED SHELTER AND PREPARE FOR DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY ?RAIN AND LIGHTNING. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY. KOWALESKI/DEEDLER
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Sep 17, 6:46 PM EDT, 46 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLINT MI 645 PM EDT THU SEPT 17 1987 ... STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ENTERING EAST CENTRAL LOWER MICHIGAN... AT 635 PM EDT DETROIT WEATHER RADAR INDICATES A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ENTERING EAST CENTRAL LOWER MICHIGAN. THE STORMS CONTAIN VERY HEAVY RAIN..GUSTY WINDS..AND ISOLATED AREAS OF PEA SIZED HAIL. THE STORMS EXTEND IN A LINE FROM 15 MILES EAST OF LANSING TO THE SUBURBS OF DETROIT..TO TOLEDO OHIO..WITH THE LINE MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 20 MILES AN HOUR. INDIVIDUAL STORMS ARE MOVING NORTH NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR. THE STORMS WILL ENTER GENESEE COUNTY IN THE NEXT HALF HOUR AND PERSONS IN THEIR PATH CAN EXPECT VERY HEAVY RAINS..STRONG GUSTY WINDS..HAIL.. AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING. NO SEVERE WEATHER HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE STORMS AS OF THIS TIME.. HOWEVER..PERSONS SHOULD STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO..OR LOCAL TELEVISION AND RADIO STATIONS FOR UPDATES OR POSSIBLE W ARNINGS SHOULD THESE THUNDERSTORMS BECOME SEVERE. DICKS
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Michigan, 1987Every tornado warning in 1987Tornadoes 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.