Alert archive / Indiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Northern Indiana

May 30, 1987Whitley County, Indiana

NWS Northern Indiana issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 30, 1987, 5:24 PM EST for Whitley County, Indiana. It was in force for 36 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
May 30, 1987, 5:24 PM EST (22:24 UTC)
Expired
May 30, 1987, 6:00 PM EST
In force
36 min
Issued by
NWS Northern Indiana
Area
Whole counties

County Whitley County, IN

The radar

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

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 30, 5:26 PM ESTThunderstorm Wind 0Whitley, IN
May 30, 5:45 PM ESTThunderstorm Wind 0Whitley, IN

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Dayton/James M C, OH (KDAY), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 176 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, Dayton/James M C, OH at 12:00Z on 1987-05-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Dayton/James M C, OH at 12:00Z on 1987-05-30The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -55 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
NaN m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-55 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-11 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 KFWA 302224
SVRFWA
INC113-033-183-302300-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WAYNE IN
524 PM EST SAT MAY 30 1987

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

NORTHEAST INDIANA...SOUTHERN NOBLE...SOUTHERN DEKALB AND NORTHERN 
 WHITLEY

AT 519 PM EST RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
EXTENDING FROM 15 MILES WEST OF FORT WAYNE INDIANA TO 15 MILES
NORTH OF FORT WAYNE INDIANA MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

THESE STORMS CAN ALSO PRODUCE A SMALL TORNADO WITH LITTLE OR NO
ADVANCE WARNING.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM PRODUCES DAM<AGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF
60 MILES AN HOUR...LARGE HAIL AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING.

 MARSHALL

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

Special weather statement, May 30, 2:14 PM EST, 3 hours 10 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SOUTH BEND IN
215 PM EST SAT MAY 30 1987

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST FOR NORTHERN
INDIANA...SOUTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN...AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST LOWER
MICHIGAN...

AT 2 05 PM EST...THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAINFALL AND
DANGEROUS LIGHTNING EXTENDED FROM SOUTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN...SOUTH
OVER WESTERN INDIANA AND EASTERN ILLINOIS TO THE SOUTH OF LAFAYETTE
INDIANA AND DANVILLE ILLINOIS.  ANOTHER HEVY THUNDERSTORM WAS OVER
SOUTHERN FULTON COUNTY INDIANA NEAR ROCHESTER...40 MILES SOUTH OF
SOUTH BEND.

A SMALL THUNDERHOWER WAS OVER SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN..JUST NORTH OF
CASSOPOLIS...20 MILES NORTHEST OF SOUTH BEND.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AROUND 25 MPH.
MOWERY
Special weather statement, May 30, 2:52 PM EST, 2 hours 32 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SOUTH BEND IN
250 PM EST SAT MAY 30 1987

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 7PM EST FOR NORTHERN
INDIANA...SOUTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN...AND SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN...

AT 240 PM EST...THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAIN AND DANGEROUS
LIGHTNING EXTENDED FROM SOUTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN...SOUTH OVER WESTERN
INDIANA AND EASTERN ILLINOIS...DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS AND LARGE
HAIL MAY ALSO ACCOMPANY THESE STORMS.  ANOTHER VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORM
WAS OVER SOUTHEASTERN MARSHALL COUNTY OF NORTHCENTRAL INDIANA

HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS WERE ALSO OVER NORTH CENTRAL CASS COUNTY OF SOUTH-
WEST LOWER MICHIGAN.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING TOWARDS THE NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.
SAVAGE
Special weather statement, May 30, 3:34 PM EST, 1 hour 50 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SOUTH BEND IN
330 PM EST SAT MAY 30 1987

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST FOR NORTHERN
INDIANA...SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN AND SOUTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN...

AT 325 PM EST...THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING VERY HEAVY DOWNPOURS OF RAIN
...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...STRONG GUSTY WINDS TO 35 TO 40 MPH AND
POSSIBLY SOME SMALL HAIL WERE OCCURRING OVER NORTHERN INDIANA FROM
NEAR KNOX...25 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF SOUTH BEND...TO 15 MILES EAST
OF PLYMOUTH...20 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEST OF SOUTH BEND...AND NEAR
MICHIGAN CITY INDIANA..20 MILES WEST OF SOUTH BEND.

OTHER HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM NEAR NILES MICHIGAN..8 MILES
NORTH NORTHEAST OF SOUTH BEND TO DECATUR MICHIGAN...30 MILES NORTHEAST
OF SOUTH BEND.

FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS...INTERSECTIONS AND UNDERPASSES WILL LIKELY
OCCUR WITH THE HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS.
<
THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AROUND 25 MPH.

NO REPORTS OF DAMAGE HAVE BEEN RECEIVED AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE AS OF 3 30 PM EST.
MOWERY

The office that day

Everything else NWS Northern Indiana issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 30, 4:38 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXHuntington, Whitley37 min
May 30, 5:24 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXDeKalb, Noble36 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Indiana, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.