Alert archive / Ohio / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 1, NWS Cleveland, OH
NWS Cleveland, OH issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1997, 4:12 PM EDT for Marion County, Morrow County, Ohio. It was in force for 48 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
- May 18, 1997, 4:12 PM EDT (20:12 UTC)
- Expired
- May 18, 1997, 5:00 PM EDT
- In force
- 48 min
- Issued by
- NWS Cleveland, OH
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Marion County, OH, Morrow County, OH
The radar
The Cleveland radar (KCLE), 134 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 4:30 PM EDT | Hail 0.88 | Marion, OH | |
| May 18, 4:35 PM EDT | Hail 1 | Iberia, OH |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 3:45 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 12:00Z, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 143 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 72 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -147 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1311 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 26 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 114 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 133 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
223 WFUS1 KCLE 182013 RRA TORCLE OHC101-117-182100- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CLEVELAND OH 412 PM EDT SUN MAY 18 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CLEVELAND HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 500 PM EDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN OHIO ...MARION COUNTY...MORROW COUNTY DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO OVER NORTHEAST MARION COUNTY MOVING TO THE EAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR. THE TORNADO SHOULD MOVE ACROSS NORTHERN MORROW COUNTY NEAR CALEDONIA AND WEST POINT. DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO. CARS ARE EASILY TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING. IF NO STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT. VRCEK/KING
The office that day
Everything else NWS Cleveland, OH issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 3:10 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Marion, Wyandot | 65 min |
| May 18, 3:11 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Hancock | 49 min |
| May 18, 3:31 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Seneca | 59 min |
| May 18, 3:45 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Knox | 30 min |
| May 18, 3:56 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Wood | 49 min |
| May 18, 4:08 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Sandusky | 67 min |
| May 18, 4:34 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Crawford, Richland | 56 min |
| May 18, 4:44 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Lorain | 46 min |
| May 18, 4:48 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Huron | 42 min |
| May 18, 5:00 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Stark | 45 min |
| May 18, 5:03 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Ashland | 57 min |
| May 18, 5:08 PM EDT | Tornado Warning | CLE | Ashland, Richland | 67 min |
| May 18, 5:20 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Wayne | 55 min |
| May 18, 5:27 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Lorain | 33 min |
| May 18, 5:50 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Marion, Morrow | 40 min |
| May 18, 5:52 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Richland | 53 min |
| May 18, 5:56 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Holmes | 49 min |
| May 18, 6:07 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Stark | 38 min |
| May 18, 6:24 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | CLE | Knox | 36 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Ohio, 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.