Alert archive / Michigan / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 21, NWS Grand Rapids, MI

May 5, 1997Lake County, Michigan

NWS Grand Rapids, MI issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 5, 1997, 5:50 PM EDT for Lake County, Michigan. It was in force for 35 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 5, 1997, 5:50 PM EDT (21:50 UTC)
Expired
May 5, 1997, 6:25 PM EDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS Grand Rapids, MI
Area
Whole counties

County Lake County, MI

The radar

The Grand Rapids radar (KGRR), 124 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:50 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
May 5, 5:56 PM EDTHail 0.88Baldwin, MI
May 5, 5:58 PM EDTHail 0.75Idlewild, MI

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 nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 191 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, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 1997-05-05Temperature 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, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 1997-05-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 183 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
1617 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
183 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
184 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.

312 
WUUS1 KGRR 052152 RRA
SVRGRR
MIC085-052225-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI
550 PM EDT MON MAY 5 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GRAND RAPIDS MI HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 625 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WEST CENTRAL LOWER MICHIGAN

   ...SOUTHERN LAKE COUNTY
 
AT 549 PM EDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS DETECTED BY NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR 5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF BALDWIN OR 3
MILES SOUTH OF IDLEWILD MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

PLEASE TAKE COVER IF YOU ARE IN THE WARNED AREA.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH YOU SHOULD PREPARE
FOR DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH...LARGE HAIL...AND DEADLY
LIGHTNING. PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A PLACE OF
SAFETY...PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT STAY AWAY FROM
WINDOWS.

TEW

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 5, 4:22 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGRROttawa48 min
May 5, 4:45 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGRRAllegan65 min
May 5, 4:56 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGRRKent59 min
May 5, 5:09 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGRROttawa31 min
May 5, 5:22 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGRRBarry, Ionia63 min
May 5, 5:47 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGRRKalamazoo63 min
May 5, 6:04 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGRRMecosta66 min
May 5, 6:29 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGRRBranch, Hillsdale61 min
May 5, 6:36 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGRRIngham59 min
May 5, 6:57 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGRRIsabella63 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Michigan, 1997Every 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.