Alert archive / Michigan / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 9, NWS Detroit, MI

June 21, 1996Lapeer County, Michigan

NWS Detroit, MI issued this tornado warning at Jun 21, 1996, 11:34 PM EDT for Lapeer County, Michigan. It was in force for 56 min. 1 report 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
Jun 21, 1996, 11:34 PM EDT (03:34 UTC)
Expired
Jun 22, 1996, 12:30 AM EDT
In force
56 min
Issued by
NWS Detroit, MI
Area
Whole counties

County Lapeer County, MI

The radar

The Detroit radar (KDTX), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:37 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jun 21, 11:40 PM EDTThunderstorm Wind 60Columbiaville, MI

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.

The nearest sounding before it

Detroit, MI (KDTX), launched 00:00Z, 3.6 hours before the alert went out and 44 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, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 1996-06-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 471 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 1996-06-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 135 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
471 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-70 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
997 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
135 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
223 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
3.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDTX 220335
TORDTX
MIC087-220430-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT PONTIAC MI
1134 PM EDT FRI JUN 21 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DETROIT PONTIAC HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1230 AM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST LOWER MICHIGAN
 
   ...LAPEER COUNTY
 
AT 1135 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A LIKELY TORNADO
OVER THE NORTHEAST PART OF GENESEE COUNTY...BETWEEN CLIO AND OTISVILLE.
THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH THE TORNADO WAS MOVING TO THE SOUTHEAST AT
40 MPH...AND IT WILL REACH COLUMBIAVILLE BY MIDNIGHT...AND THE LAPEER
AREA BY 1215 AM.
 
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 DIDTCH OR CULVERT.
 
DJF

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, Jun 21, 6:25 PM EDT, 5 hours 9 minutes before
MIZ050-056>083-220000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI
623 PM EDT FRI JUN 21 1996

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 657 REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL
800 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE SOUTHERN THIRD OF LOWER MICHIGAN...

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 657 REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL
800 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE SOUTHERN THIRD OF LOWER MICHIGAN.
THE WATCH IS GENERALLY SOUTH OF A LINE FROM MUSKEGON TO PORT HURON.
IN SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN...THIS WATCH INCLUDES SHIAWASSEE...GENESEE...
LAPEER...ST. CLAIR...LIVINGSTON...OAKLAND...MACOMB...WASHTENAW...
WAYNE...LENAWEE...AND MONROE COUNTIES.

AT 620 PM EDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS
OVER SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN. THEY WERE LOCATED OVER NORTHWEST
KENT COUNTY ABOUT 10 MILES NORTH OF GRAND RAPIDS AND OVER
ST. JOSEPH COUNTY NEAR THREE RIVERS. NO SEVERE WEATHER HAS BEEN
REPORTED WITH EITHER OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS.

ELSEWHERE...AN AREA OF LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN WAS LOCATED FROM THE
OSCODA AREA...TO BETWEEN MOUNT PLEASANT AND HARBOR BEACH...TO
BETWEEN KALAMAZOO AND PONTIAC.

MOVEMENT WAS TO THE EAST 50 MILES AN HOUR.

THOSE IN THE WATCH AREA ARE URGED TO PREPARE FOR THE ONSET OF
POTENTIALLY SEVERE WEATHER... AND LISTEN TO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
WEATHER RADIO FOR THE LATEST WARNINGS AND STATEMENTS.

BOYNE
Special weather statement, Jun 21, 6:39 PM EDT, 4 hours 55 minutes before
MIZ050-056>083-220000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI
635 PM EDT FRI JUN 21 1996

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 657 HAS BEEN CANCELLED
FOR THE SOUTHERN THIRD OF LOWER MICHIGAN...

AT 630 PM...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CANCELLED SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 657 WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FOR THE
SOUTHERN THIRD OF LOWER MICHIGAN.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WHICH PROMTED THE WATCH EARLIER IN THE
AFTERNOON HAVE DECREASED DRAMATICALLY AS THEY MOVED THROUGH
SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN. SINCE THE REDEVELOPMENT OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS IS UNLIKELY TONIGHT...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WATCH WAS CANCELLED EARLY.

BOYNE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 21, 9:52 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningDTXMidland3 hr
Jun 21, 10:20 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDTXMidland40 min
Jun 21, 10:35 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningDTXBay, Saginaw3 hr
Jun 21, 10:47 PM EDTTornado WarningDTXMidland, Saginaw43 min
Jun 21, 11:14 PM EDTTornado WarningDTXGenesee61 min
Jun 21, 11:33 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningDTXTuscola3 hr
Jun 21, 11:45 PM EDTTornado WarningDTXSaginaw, Tuscola30 min
Jun 22, 12:07 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDTXBay, Tuscola68 min
Jun 22, 12:18 AM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDTXTuscola57 min
Jun 22, 12:23 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningDTXLapeer3 hr
Jun 22, 12:30 AM EDTTornado WarningDTXLapeer45 min
Jun 22, 12:46 AM EDTTornado WarningDTXSaint Clair59 min
Jun 22, 1:02 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningDTXSaint Clair, Sanilac3 hr
Jun 22, 1:02 AM EDTTornado WarningDTXLapeer43 min
Jun 22, 1:40 AM EDTTornado WarningDTXSaint Clair65 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Michigan, 1996Every tornado warning in 1996Tornadoes in 1996

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.