Alert archive / Wisconsin / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1989

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 2, NWS Milwaukee, WI

May 23, 1989Clark County, Marathon County, Taylor County, Wisconsin

NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 23, 1989, 5:40 PM CDT for Clark County, Marathon County, Taylor County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 50 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 23, 1989, 5:40 PM CDT (22:40 UTC)
Expired
May 23, 1989, 6:30 PM CDT
In force
50 min
Issued by
NWS Milwaukee, WI
Area
Whole counties

Counties Clark County, WI, Marathon County, WI, Taylor County, WI

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

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 181 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, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 1989-05-23Temperature 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, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 1989-05-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 21 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
2487 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
73 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 KMKE 232241
SVRMKE
WIC019-073-119-232330-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE WI
540 PM CDT TUE MAY 23 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MILWAUKEE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...
 
IN CENTRAL WISCONSIN
          ...CLARK...MARATHON
IN NORTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN
          ...TAYLOR
 
AT 535 PM WEATHER RADAR INDICATED TWO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN NORTH
CENTRAL WISCONSIN. ONE WAS 15 MILES NORTHWEST OF WAUSAU NEAR ATHENS
IN NORTHWEST MARATHON COUNTY.  THIS STORM SHUOLD AFFECT WAUSAU.
 
THE OTHER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WAS 35 MILES NORTHEAST OF EAU CLAIRE
IN SOUTHERN TAYLOR COUNTY SOUTHEAST OF HANNIBAL.  THIS STORM SHOULD
MOVE INTO NORTHERN CLARK COUNTY.
 
THESE STORMS WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 40 MILES AN HOUR.  EXPECT LARGE
HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS FROM THESE STORMS.
 
 
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 ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.
HENTZ

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 23, 4:56 PM CDT, 44 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE WI
455 PM CDT TUE MAY 23 1989

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IN NORTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN...

AT 450 PM CDT THUNDERSTORMS WERE DEPICTED BY WEATHER RADAR IN AN
AREA FROM 20 WEST OF RHINELANDER IN ONEIDA COUNTY THROUGH WESTERN
LINCOLN COUNTY AND TAYLOR COUNTY NEAR MEDFORD...30 MILES NORTHWEST
OF WAUSAU.  THESE STORMS WERE MOVING MOVING TO THE EAST SOUTHEAST
AT 40 TO 50 MPH AND SHOULD MOVE INTO LINXCOLN AND MARATHON COUNTIES
REACHING THE MERILL AND WAUSAU AREAS BETWEEN 500 AND 530 PM CDT.

BRIEF PERIODS OF HEAVY RAINS..STRING GUSTY WINDS LARGE HAIL AND
DANGEROUS LIGHTNING CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Milwaukee, WI issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 23, 6:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXMarathon, Wood25 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Wisconsin, 1989Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1989

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.