Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 1, NWS La Crosse, WI

June 5, 1997Winona County, Minnesota

NWS La Crosse, WI issued this tornado warning at Jun 5, 1997, 4:55 PM CDT for Winona County, Minnesota. It was in force for 35 min. 3 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: Jun 5, 1997, 4:55 PM CDT (21:55 UTC)
Expired: Jun 5, 1997, 5:30 PM CDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS La Crosse, WI
Area: Whole counties

County Winona County, MN

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 51 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:58 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
Jun 5, 5:00 PM CDT	Hail 0.88	Stockton, MN
Jun 5, 5:00 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Utica, MN
Jun 5, 5:07 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Utica, MN

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
Jun 5, 1:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 174 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: 14 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -128 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1278 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 92 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.

640 
WFUS1 KLSE 052155 RRA
TORLSE
MNC169-052230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI
455 PM CDT THU JUN 5 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
    WINONA COUNTY - SOUTHEASTERN MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 530 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    LEWISTON
    ST. CHARLES

* AT 453 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 13 MILES WEST OF WINONA...NORTH OF LEWISTON. THE STORM
  WAS MOVING SOUTHWEST AT 20 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL BE BETWEEN ST. CHARLES AND LEWISTON BY 510 PM.

IF YOU ARE NEAR THIS DANGEROUS STORM...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY IN
THE LOWEST FLOOR AND INNER MOST ROOM OF A BUILDING.

NELSON/RIECK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 5, 12:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Wabasha	63 min
Jun 5, 1:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Olmsted	45 min
Jun 5, 1:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Winona	46 min
Jun 5, 2:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Mower	50 min
Jun 5, 2:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Olmsted	42 min
Jun 5, 2:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Fillmore	52 min
Jun 5, 2:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Mower	31 min
Jun 5, 3:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Houston, Winona	64 min
Jun 5, 4:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Winona	33 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 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.