Alert archive / Michigan / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Grand Rapids, MI

September 19, 1997Ottawa County, Michigan

NWS Grand Rapids, MI issued this tornado warning at Sep 19, 1997, 12:39 PM EDT for Ottawa County, Michigan. It was in force for 31 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: Sep 19, 1997, 12:39 PM EDT (16:39 UTC)
Expired: Sep 19, 1997, 1:10 PM EDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Grand Rapids, MI
Area: Whole counties

County Ottawa County, MI

The radar

The Grand Rapids radar (KGRR), 53 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:38 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
Sep 19, 1:15 PM EDT	Hail 1.25	Hudsonville, MI
Sep 19, 1:18 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Jenison, 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, 4.7 hours before the alert went out and 225 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: 1082 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -102 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 538 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 180 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 223 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 6.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KGRR 191640 RRA
TORGRR
MIC139-MIZ533-191710-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI
1239 PM EDT FRI SEP 19 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  OTTAWA COUNTY - SOUTHWESTERN LOWER MICHIGAN
  THIS INCLUDES THE ADJACENT COASTAL WATERS OF LAKE MICHIGAN

* UNTIL 110 PM EDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  OLIVE CENTER         AROUND 1245 PM EDT
  HOLLAND              AROUND 1245 PM EDT
  ZEELAND              AROUND 1250 PM EDT
  HUDSONVILLE          AROUND 105 PM EDT

* AT 1237 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED
  A POSSIBLE TORNADO 10 MILES NORTHWEST OF HOLLAND OR 6 MILES WEST OF
  OLIVE CENTER MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!

TRH

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 19, 11:49 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Muskegon	41 min
Sep 19, 12:55 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Isabella	50 min
Sep 19, 1:07 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	GRR	Kent, Ottawa	63 min
Sep 19, 1:26 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Lake	34 min
Sep 19, 1:39 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Osceola	51 min
Sep 19, 3:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Allegan, Van Buren	45 min
Sep 19, 3:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Allegan, Van Buren	42 min
Sep 19, 4:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Calhoun, Eaton	38 min
Sep 19, 5:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Ingham, Jackson	28 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Michigan, 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.