Alert archive / Wisconsin / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 23, NWS La Crosse, WI

August 23, 1997La Crosse County, Wisconsin

NWS La Crosse, WI issued this tornado warning at Aug 23, 1997, 6:48 PM CDT for La Crosse County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 47 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
Aug 23, 1997, 6:48 PM CDT (23:48 UTC)
Expired
Aug 23, 1997, 7:35 PM CDT
In force
47 min
Issued by
NWS La Crosse, WI
Area
Whole counties

County La Crosse County, WI

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 11 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:47 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
Aug 23, 7:29 PM CDTThunderstorm Wind 52Onalaska, 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 watch it was issued in

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

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Aug 23, 5:30 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 224 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, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 1997-08-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 1997-08-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 320 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
800 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
320 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
381 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 KLSE 232348 RRA
TORLSE
WIC063-240035-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI
648 PM CDT SAT AUG 23 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
    LA CROSSE COUNTY - WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN

* UNTIL 735 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    NEW AMSTERDAM
    HOLMEN
    ONALASKA

* AT 646 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO 20 MILES NORTHWEST OF LA CROSSE. THE STORM WAS
  MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 TO 20 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL BE NEAR MIDWAY AT 655PM...NEAR HOLMEN AT 715 PM.

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

RIECK/SWERMAN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 23, 6:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXBuffalo61 min
Aug 23, 6:39 PM CDTTornado WarningARXBuffalo, Trempealeau46 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Wisconsin, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.