Alert archive / Michigan / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Gaylord, MI

July 2, 1997Crawford County, Michigan

NWS Gaylord, MI issued this tornado warning at Jul 2, 1997, 2:53 PM EDT for Crawford County, Michigan. It was in force for 42 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: Jul 2, 1997, 2:53 PM EDT (18:53 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 1997, 3:35 PM EDT
In force: 42 min
Issued by: NWS Gaylord, MI
Area: Whole counties

County Crawford County, MI

The radar

The NCL Michigan radar (KAPX), 26 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:55 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
Jul 2, 3:00 PM EDT	Tornado F1	Grayling, MI	The tornado associated with this thunderstorm initially touched down in the far southeast corner of the county. The thunderstorm produced straight-line wind damage to trees along its entire path across the southern part of the county with tonadic damage first

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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jul 2, 1:45 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Alpena, MI (KAPX), launched 12:00Z, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 179 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: 195 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -66 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 732 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 103 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 134 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 KAPN 021853 RRA
TORAPN
MIC039-021935-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GAYLORD MI
253 PM EDT WED JUL 2 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  CRAWFORD COUNTY - NORTH CENTRAL LOWER MICHIGAN

* UNTIL 335 PM EDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    LOVELLS

* AT 250 PM EDT RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 10 MILES
  SOUTHEAST OF GRAYLING...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL BE WILL CROSS M-72 12 MILES SOUTH OF LOVELLS BY.
  310 PM EDT.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY IN A
BASEMENT OR AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR
BUSINESS!

KOPSKY

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 2, 12:44 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Leelanau	46 min
Jul 2, 1:25 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Antrim, Charlevoix	50 min
Jul 2, 1:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Emmet	61 min
Jul 2, 2:13 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	APX	Emmet	47 min
Jul 2, 3:07 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Oscoda	63 min
Jul 2, 3:30 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	APX	Oscoda	40 min
Jul 2, 3:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Arenac, Ogemaw	64 min
Jul 2, 4:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Alcona, Iosco	64 min
Jul 2, 4:45 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	APX	Arenac	35 min
Jul 2, 5:48 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	APX	Montmorency	37 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Michigan, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes in 1997

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.