Alert archive / Wisconsin / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 80, NWS Milwaukee, WI

October 29, 1996Iowa County, Wisconsin

NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 29, 1996, 2:51 PM CST for Iowa County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 24 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: Oct 29, 1996, 2:51 PM CST (20:51 UTC)
Expired: Oct 29, 1996, 3:15 PM CST
In force: 24 min
Issued by: NWS Milwaukee, WI
Area: Whole counties

County Iowa County, WI

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 125 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:50 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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Oct 29, 3:00 PM CST	Hail 1	Waldwick, 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 232 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: 1440 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 60 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 125 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 299 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 292052 RRA
SVRMKE
WIC049-292115-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
251 PM CST TUE OCT 29 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  315 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST WISCONSIN
 
   ...IOWA COUNTY
 
AT 250 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM LOCATED NEAR
MINERAL POINT...35 MILES NORTHEAST OF DUBUQUE. THE STORM WAS MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 65 MPH AND WILL BE AFFECTING THE TOWNS OF JONESDALE...
WALDWICK AND HOLLANDALE BEFORE 3 PM.
 
 
DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE LIKELY.  GO INSIDE A STURDY
BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS!

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, Oct 29, 11:15 AM CST, 3 hours 36 minutes before

WIZ011>013-019>022-030>072-300400-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
1100 AM CST TUE OCT 29 1996

...THUNDERSTORMS WITH DAMAGING WIND GUSTS POSSIBLE LATER TODAY AND
THIS EVENING ACROSS SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL WISCONSIN...

AN UNUSUALLY STRONG STORM SYSTEM PASSING WEST OF WISCONSIN TODAY WILL
BRING A MODERATE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER TO THE STATE LATER TODAY
AND THIS EVENING.  THE MAIN THREAT APPEARS TO BE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS
FROM FAST MOVING THUNDERSTORMS...WITH THE MOST VULNERABLE AREA BEING
THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF WISCONSIN.

A WARM FRONT WILL MOVE NORTH TO SOUTHERN WISCONSIN LATER THIS AFTERNOON
WHILE A COLD FRONT RACES NORTHEAST OUT OF MISSOURI.  THE INTENSE
DYNAMICS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SYSTEM ARE CAPABLE OF CAUSING A SQUALL
LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH DAMAGING WINDS TO FORM ALONG THE COLD FRONT
THEN RACE INTO WISCONSIN AFTER 3 OR 4 PM FROM THE SOUTHWEST.

THE STORMS COULD MAINTAIN STRENGTH THIS EVENING AS THEY MOVE NORTH
INTO NORTHEAST WISCONSIN.

THIS IS A POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SITUATION.  LISTEN FOR POSSIBLE SEVERE
WEATHER WATCHES AND WARNINGS LATER TODAY AND THIS EVENING...AND BE
PREPARED TO TAKE COVER IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES.

MEADE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 29, 2:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Lafayette	20 min
Oct 29, 4:04 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Dane	26 min
Oct 29, 4:23 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Dodge	37 min
Oct 29, 4:28 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Waukesha	32 min
Oct 29, 4:40 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Walworth	35 min
Oct 29, 4:52 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Jefferson	38 min
Oct 29, 4:56 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Waukesha	34 min
Oct 29, 5:03 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Racine	27 min
Oct 29, 5:07 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Milwaukee	23 min
Oct 29, 5:14 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Kenosha	31 min
Oct 29, 5:26 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Jefferson, Rock, Walworth	34 min
Oct 29, 5:26 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Dodge	34 min
Oct 29, 5:50 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Kenosha, Racine	40 min
Oct 29, 5:50 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Milwaukee, Waukesha	40 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Wisconsin, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.