Alert archive / Indiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Indianapolis, IN

April 3, 1988Elkhart County, Indiana

NWS Indianapolis, IN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 3, 1988, 1:33 PM EST for Elkhart County, Indiana. It was in force for 42 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 3, 1988, 1:33 PM EST (18:33 UTC)
Expired: Apr 3, 1988, 2:15 PM EST
In force: 42 min
Issued by: NWS Indianapolis, IN
Area: Whole counties

County Elkhart County, IN

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

Dayton/James M C, OH (KDAY), launched 12:00Z, 6.6 hours before the alert went out and 235 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: 510 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 621 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 158 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 132 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KSBN 031834
SVRSBN
INC039-031915-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SOUTH BEND IN
133 PM EST SUN APR 3 1988
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 215 PM EST FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTY OF
 
NORTHCENTRAL INDIANA... ELKHART
 
AT 1 30 PM EST...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM JUST SOUTH OF
MISHAWAKA INDIANA...10 MILES SOUTHEAST OF SOUTH BEND INDIANA.
 
1 INCH DIAMETER HAIL WAS REPORTED BY CITY POLICE ON THE SOUTH SIDE
OF MISHAWAKA INDIANA AT 1 25 PM EST.
 
THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT
DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH
...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.  FOR
YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.
 
MOWERY

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, Apr 3, 9:54 AM EST, 3 hours 39 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS INDIANA
953 AM EST SUN APR 3 1988

AT 945 PM RADAR SHOWED A VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORM OVER EXTREME
NORTHEAST HAMILTON COUNTY...ABOUT 10 MILES NORTHWEST OF ANDERSON.

STATE POLICE AND HAMILTON COUNTY SHERIFFS REPORTED HEAVY RAIN...
SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS FROM THIS STORM BETWEEN 930 AND 945.
THERE WERE ALSO SOME POWER OUTAGES IN HAMILTON COUNTY.

THE STORM IS MOVING NORTH NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH AND WILL MOVE
THROUGH ELWOOD A LITTLE AFTER 10 AM AND REACH MARION AROUND 1030
TO 1045.

ALLSOPP

Special weather statement, Apr 3, 12:11 PM EST, 1 hour 22 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS INDIANA
1210 PM EST SUN APR 3 1988

AT 1205 PM EST VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER WEST CENTRAL INDIANA.
THE STRONGEST

The office that day

Everything else NWS Indianapolis, IN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 3, 12:10 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	LaPorte	25 min
Apr 3, 12:31 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Montgomery	29 min
Apr 3, 12:33 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Starke	27 min
Apr 3, 12:47 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	LaPorte, Saint Joseph	28 min
Apr 3, 12:47 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Clinton, Tippecanoe	28 min
Apr 3, 12:55 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Cass, White	35 min
Apr 3, 1:03 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Saint Joseph	22 min
Apr 3, 1:09 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Hancock, Shelby	36 min
Apr 3, 1:34 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Boone, Hendricks	26 min
Apr 3, 1:37 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Rush	26 min
Apr 3, 1:54 PM EST	Tornado Warning	IND	Jackson, Jennings	36 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Indiana, 1988 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.