Alert archive / Wisconsin / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Milwaukee, WI

July 18, 1996Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin

NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this tornado warning at Jul 18, 1996, 7:35 PM CDT for Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 50 min. 2 reports 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: Jul 18, 1996, 7:35 PM CDT (00:35 UTC)
Expired: Jul 18, 1996, 8:25 PM CDT
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Milwaukee, WI
Area: Whole counties

County Fond du Lac County, WI

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jul 18, 7:55 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Byron, WI
Jul 18, 7:59 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Dundee, 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 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 86 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: 2604 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -9 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 773 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 137 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 181 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.5
Supercell composite: 9.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMKE 190040 COR
TORMKE
WIC039-190125-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED  ...CORRECTION...
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
735 PM CDT THU JUL 18 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 825 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN

   ...ALL OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY


AT 730 PM CDT...A TORNADO WAS REPORTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS 8
MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF FOND DU LAC OR 2 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF
BYRON MOVING EAST SOUTHEAST AT 39 MPH.  THE TORNADO WAS ON COUNTY
TRUNK F.
EXTENSIVE DAMAGE WAS REPORTED WITH THIS TORNADO AND IT WAS STILL ON
THE GROUND.  THE DAMAGE AREA WAS 1/2 MILE LONG.  THIS IS A VERY
DANGEROUS TORNADO CAUSING WIDESPREAD DAMAGE.

THIS TORNADO WILL BE NEAR...
 EDEN                     BY 736 PM CDT
 ASHFORD                  BY 739 PM CDT
 CAMPBELLSPORT            BY 742 PM CDT
 ST KILIAN                BY 742 PM CDT
 WAUCOUSTA                BY 742 PM CDT
 ELMORE                   BY 743 PM CDT

IN ADDITION ANOTHER SEVERE STORM WAS DEVELOPING OVER FAR NORTH
CENTRAL FOND DU LAC COUNTY AND THIS MAY ALSO BECOME TORNADIC.
THIS WOULD THREATEN THE CITY OHF FOND DU LAC.

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.

HENTZ/MEADE


&
CORRECTION FOR ALL OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

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, Jul 18, 6:16 PM CDT, 1 hour 19 minutes before

WIZ008>009-016>017-027>029-033>034-041-190100-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
615 PM CDT THU JUL 18 1996

THE TORNADO WATCH PREVIOUSLY IN EFFECT HAS BEEN CANCELLE6D IN MUCH
OF WESTERN WISCONSIN. THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER HAS ENDED WEST
OF A LINE FROM PRICE COUNTY SOUTHWARD TO LA CROSSE COUNTY.

BROWNING

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 18, 7:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Fond du Lac, Sheboygan	55 min
Jul 18, 7:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Fond du Lac	31 min
Jul 18, 7:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Sheboygan	35 min
Jul 18, 7:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Dodge, Washington	52 min
Jul 18, 7:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Columbia	63 min
Jul 18, 7:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Sheboygan	44 min
Jul 18, 8:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Ozaukee	45 min
Jul 18, 8:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Columbia	47 min
Jul 18, 8:21 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Dodge, Fond du Lac, Washington	44 min
Jul 18, 8:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Ozaukee	49 min
Jul 18, 8:53 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Ozaukee, Washington	47 min
Jul 18, 9:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Dodge	34 min
Jul 18, 9:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Washington	60 min
Jul 18, 9:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Milwaukee, Waukesha	62 min
Jul 18, 9:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Ozaukee	52 min
Jul 18, 9:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Ozaukee, Washington	49 min
Jul 18, 10:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Milwaukee	36 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Wisconsin, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes 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.