Alert archive / Wisconsin / Tornado Warnings in 1988
Tornado Warning 5, NWS Quad Cities, IA
NWS Quad Cities, IA issued this tornado warning at May 8, 1988, 3:31 PM CDT for Grant County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 44 min. 7 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 8, 1988, 3:31 PM CDT (20:31 UTC)
- Expired
- May 8, 1988, 4:15 PM CDT
- In force
- 44 min
- Issued by
- NWS Quad Cities, IA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Grant County, WI
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
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 8, 3:48 PM CDT | Tornado F1 | Grant, WI | |
| May 8, 3:52 PM CDT | Tornado F1 | Grant, WI | |
| May 8, 3:54 PM CDT | Tornado F1 | Grant, WI | |
| May 8, 3:55 PM CDT | Tornado F2 | Grant, WI | |
| May 8, 4:00 PM CDT | Tornado F1 | Grant, WI | |
| May 8, 4:15 PM CDT | Tornado F1 | Grant, WI | |
| May 8, 4:15 PM CDT | Tornado F2 | Grant, WI |
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
Peoria Regional, IL (KPIA), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 261 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1404 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 49 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 194 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 203 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
TTAA00 KMSN 082032
TORDBQ
WIC043-082115-
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DUBUQUE IA
ISSUED BY MADISON WI
331 PM CDT SUN MAY 8 1988
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 415 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
IN SOUTHWEST WISCONSIN
...WESTERN GRANT
AT 315 PM CDT A TORNADO WAS REPORTED ON THE GROUND AT EARLSVILLE IOWA
40 MILES OF DUBUQUE MOVING NORTH TO NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH. THIS STORM
SHOULD ENTER WESTERN GRANT COUNTY BETWEEN CASSVILLE AND POTOSI.
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION. ACT QUICKLY. IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE..].GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE. AVOID WINDOWS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.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, May 8, 1:17 PM CDT, 2 hours 14 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOLINE ILLINOIS 115 PM CDT SUN MAY 8 1988 ...THUNDERSTORMS APPROACHING THE QUAD-CITIES... A 20 MILE WIDE LINE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WAS LOCATED OVER EXTREME EASTERN IOWA ABOUT 20 MILES WEST OF THE QUAD-CITIES. THE LINE EXTENDED FROM NEAR DUBUQUE THROUGH MUSCATINE TO AROUND BURLINGTON IN EASTERN IOWA. THE LINE WAS MOVING EAST AT 20 MILES AN HOUR AND WILL BE MOVING THROUGH THE QUAD-CITY AREA BY 2PM. A SECOND LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS..SOME SEVERE..EXTENDED FROM WATERLOO TO NEAR OTTUMWA. THIS LINE OF STORMS WILL REACH THE QUAD CITIES LATER THIS AFTERNOON. FOBERT
The office that day
Everything else NWS Quad Cities, IA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 8, 3:49 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DVN | Grant | 41 min |
| May 8, 4:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DVN | Lafayette | 34 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Wisconsin, 1988Every tornado warning in 1988Tornadoes 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.