Alert archive / Wisconsin / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1989

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 39, NWS Milwaukee, WI

August 4, 1989Marathon County, Portage County, Wisconsin

NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 4, 1989, 4:27 PM CDT for Marathon County, Portage County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 28 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 4, 1989, 4:27 PM CDT (21:27 UTC)
Expired: Aug 4, 1989, 4:55 PM CDT
In force: 28 min
Issued by: NWS Milwaukee, WI
Area: Whole counties

Counties Marathon County, WI, Portage 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, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 123 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: NaN m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 10 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMKE 042128
SVRMKE
WIC073-097-042200-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE WI
427 PM CDT FRI AUG 4 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MILWAUKEE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  500 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...
 
IN CENTRAL WISCONSIN
          ...MARATHON...PORTAGE
 
AT 425 PM...RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM STRADDLING THE
MARATHON-PORTAGE COUNTY LINE ABOUT 22 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
WAUSAU..MOVING EAST AT 30 TO 35 MPH. TOWNS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM
INCLUDE BEVENT..ELDERON..GALLOWAY..AND ROSHOLT.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEAADLY 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.
JOHNSTON

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, Aug 4, 4:16 PM CDT, 11 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE WI
415 PM CDT FRI AUG 4 1989

...VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IN CENTRAL WISCONSIN...

AT 415 PM....WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A CLUSTER OF VERY STRONG THUNDER-
STORMS OVER CENTRAL WISCONSINS MARATHON COUNTY. THE HEAVIEST STORMS WERE
AROUND 15 MILES SOUTH OF WAUSAU...MOVING EAST AT 30 TO 35 MPH.

THESE STORMS WILL BE EFFECTING CENTRAL AND EASTERN MARATHON COUNTY
FOR THE NEXT 1 TO 2 HOURS.

'THESE STORMS HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF PRODUCING HEAVY RAINS...HAIL...AND
STRONG GUSTY WINDS. PERSONS IN MARATHON COUNTY SHOULD BE PREPARED TO
SEEK SHELTER SHOULD THESE STORMS APPROACH.

KOCHIS

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Wisconsin, 1989 Every 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.