Alert archive / Michigan / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 117, NWS Grand Rapids, MI

August 16, 1997Berrien County, Michigan

NWS Grand Rapids, MI issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 16, 1997, 8:13 PM EDT for Berrien County, Michigan. 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 16, 1997, 8:13 PM EDT (00:13 UTC)
Expired: Aug 16, 1997, 9:00 PM EDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Rapids, MI
Area: Whole counties

County Berrien County, MI

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Aug 16, 8:30 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Grand Beach, MI	Berrien County Central Dispatch reported several large tree limbs downed and pea-sized hail in Grand Beach. One tree fell in the Three Oaks area and 3,000 American Electric Power customers lost power due to lightning strikes and downed limbs.

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
Aug 16, 2:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr
Aug 16, 6:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Detroit, MI (KDTX), launched 00:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 262 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: 861 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -136 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1182 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 3 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 86 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 3.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Grand Rapids, MI wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 16, 12:22 PM EDT, 7 hours 51 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 16, 12:22 PM EDT, 7 hours 51 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECT SPELLING...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI
1220 AM EDT SAT AUG 16 1997

...UPDATE ZONES TO FRESHEN WORDING...

LITTLE QUESTION THE ATMOSHPERE IS READY TO CREATE MORE THUNDERSTORMS.
MORNING SOUNDINGS MODIFIED IN SHARP AND MODEL SOUNDING FROM 00Z
RUN MODIFIED TO MATCH 12Z UPPER AIR DATA AND MODIFIED IN SHARP
ALL SAY ABOUT THE SAME THING.  VERY UNSTABLE.  CAPES FROM 2500 TO
3500 J/KG DEPENDING ON JUST HOW WARM IT GETS.  SAT LOOPS OF VIS
SHOW CONSIDERABLE SC TYPE CLDS AROUND THOUGH. SFC DWPTS IN IN THE
MID 70S... 74-76 AROUND REGION.  YIKES!!!  HOWEVER 850 INFLOW FOCUSED
EAST OF LWR MI AND NOT FCT TO REFOCUS ON THIS AREA. 850 TEMPS ON THE
WARM SIDE... NEAR 20C. 700 NOT WARM ENOUGH CAPE THINGS AND SOME
CAA 500 MB ESP OVER NRN PART OF CWA. FCST TO BE IN ENTRENCE REGION
TO 90 KT 300 MB JET. BEST FOCUS WILL BE SLOWLY SAGING COLD FRNT/
STATIONARY FRNT. LOOPS OF STREAM LINE ANAL ON GARP SHOWS FRNT
TO NEAR MKG TO MKE WITH WAVE DEVELOPING OVER W CNTL WI. BELIEVE
THAT FRONT WILL BE BEST FOCUS AREA AS CAP WEAKEST THERE AND THAT
IS AREA WHERE BEST OUTFLOW INTEREACTION LIKELY. SO WILL FCST
VARIABLE CLDS THIS AFTERNOON WITH SCT TSTMS ALL ZONE AREAS.
WILL HAVE HIGHS IN MID 80S NRN 2/3 CWA AND 85 TO 90 SNR 1/3.

SELS HAS SLIGHT RISK OF SVR... SEEMS GOOD TO ME. NOT MUCH DIRECTIONAL
WIND SHEAR BUT VELICITY 30-45 KNTS THROUGH DEEP LAYER. SOME DRY AIR
ABV SFC AND BRN ABOVE 50 MOSTLY... SO MUTICELL STORMS BEST BET. WITH
WET BULD ZERO AROUND 12000 FT HAIL ONLY IN STRONGEST STORMS. SO
BOW ECHO TYPE STORMS SEEM MOST LIKELY TO ME.

WDM

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 16, 5:42 PM EDT, 2 hours 31 minutes before

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Local storm report, Aug 16, 5:55 PM EDT, 2 hours 18 minutes before

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Local storm report, Aug 16, 5:55 PM EDT, 2 hours 18 minutes before

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Local storm report, Aug 16, 5:58 PM EDT, 2 hours 15 minutes before

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Local storm report, Aug 16, 6:00 PM EDT, 2 hours 13 minutes before

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The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 16, 9:35 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Cass, Saint Joseph	45 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Michigan, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.