Alert archive / Michigan / Tornado Warnings in 1988

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Gaylord, MI

August 12, 1988Montmorency County, Michigan

NWS Gaylord, MI issued this tornado warning at Aug 12, 1988, 3:18 PM EDT for Montmorency County, Michigan. It was in force for 34 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 12, 1988, 3:18 PM EDT (19:18 UTC)
Expired: Aug 12, 1988, 3:52 PM EDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Gaylord, MI
Area: Whole counties

County Montmorency 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

Sault Ste Marie, MI (KSSM), launched 12:00Z, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 161 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: 295 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -323 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1130 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 71 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 KAPN 121918
TORAPN
MIC119-007-122015-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALPENA MI
318 PM EDT FRI AUG 12 1988

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 415 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTIES

   IN THE NORTHEAST PART OF LOWER MICHIGAN
      EXTREME NORTHEAST MONTMORENCY...NORTHWEST ALPENA

AT 312 PM EDT RADAR SHOWED A TORNADO 23 MILES NORTHWEST OF DOWNTOWN
ALPENA...9 MILES SOUTHWEST OF THE CITY OF ONAWAY IN WEST PRESQUE
ISLE COUNTY...MOVEMENT WAS NOW TO THE SOUTHEAST AT 35 MILES AN HOUR

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO...GO TO A BASEMENT SHELTER
IF AVAILABLE...OTHERWISE TO A CENTRAL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM.  TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.

 THE PRESQUE ISLE COUNTY SHERIFF DEPARTMENT RECIEVED A REPORT OF A
 FUNNEL CLOUD AT 245 6 MILE SOUTHWEST OF ONAWAY.

KAMINSKE

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, Aug 12, 10:45 AM EDT, 4 hours 33 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAULT STE MARIE MI
1045 AM EDT FRI AUG 12 1988

...ST MARYS RIVER SYSTEM OPEN TO SHIPPING...

AT 1040 AM EDT THE U.S. COAST GUARD AT SAULT STE MARIE MI OPENED THE
ST MARYS RIVER SYSTEM TO TRAFFIC.
DENSE FOG THAT BLANKETED THE EASTERN UPPER PENINSULA IS LIFTING AND
VISIBILITIES ARE IMPROVING.

RNE

Special weather statement, Aug 12, 12:41 PM EDT, 2 hours 37 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUGHTON LAKE MI
1235 PM EDT FRI AUG 12 1988

AT 1230 PM EDT RADAR INDICATED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 30 MILES WEST
OF HOUGHTON LAKE. THE THUNDERSTORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 20 MILES AN
HOUR.

THIS MOVEMENT WILL BRING THE THUNDERSTORM INTO THE HOUGHTON LAKE...
HIGGINS LAKE...AND LAKE ST. HELEN AREA BETWEEN 130 PM AND 200 PM THIS
AFTERNOON. BOATERS ON THE LAKES SHOULD SEEK SAFE SHELTER.

VERY HEAVY RAIN..^.STRONG GUSTY WINDS...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE
LIKELY AS THIS STORM PASSES.

FLINT

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 12, 3:00 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	APX	Presque Isle	52 min
Aug 12, 3:18 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	APX	Alpena	57 min
Aug 12, 4:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Alpena	60 min
Aug 12, 7:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Alpena, Presque Isle	69 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Michigan, 1988 Every tornado warning in 1988 Tornadoes in 1988

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.