Alert archive / Ohio / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 16, NWS Wilmington, OH

July 26, 1997Licking County, Ohio

NWS Wilmington, OH issued this tornado warning at Jul 26, 1997, 7:08 PM EDT for Licking County, Ohio. It was in force for 62 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: Jul 26, 1997, 7:08 PM EDT (23:08 UTC)
Expired: Jul 26, 1997, 8:10 PM EDT
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Wilmington, OH
Area: Whole counties

County Licking County, OH

The radar

The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 137 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:10 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
Jul 26, 7:15 PM EDT	Tornado F1	Croton, OH	A tornado touched down briefly downing a few trees and damaging corn crops.
Jul 26, 7:27 PM EDT	Hail 1.5	Kirkersville, 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
Jul 26, 6:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 12:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 135 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: 14 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -311 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1121 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 93 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 151 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 KILN 262307 RRA
TORILN
OHC089-270010-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
708 PM EDT SAT JUL 26 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON OH HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 810 PM EDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN CENTRAL OHIO

   ...LICKING COUNTY
 
AT 705 PM EDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY WILMINGTON
DOPPLER RADAR 18 MILES WEST OF NEWARK MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE AROUND...
        ALEXANDRIA              BY 715 PM EDT
        GRANVILLE               BY 728 PM EDT
        KIRKERSVILLE            BY 734 PM EDT
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. YOUR QUICK REACTION TO THIS TORNADO
DWARNING MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE. GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A
STRONGER SHELTER. REMEMBER...MOST TORNADO DEATHS OCCUR IN MOBILE
HOMES.

RANDALL

What forecasters said that day

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

NWS Wilmington, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jul 26, 3:25 PM EDT, 3 hours 43 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 26, 3:25 PM EDT, 3 hours 43 minutes before

FORECAST COORDINATION MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
325 PM EDT SAT JUL 26 1997

A FEW SHWRS CONTG ACRS FAR SE FA BRDR BUT THESE PUSHG S AND SHUD NOT
AFFECT FA THRU RMNDR AFTN. OTHWRWS...HAZY HOT AND HUMID ACRS FA THIS
AFTN. LTST SFC ANLYS HAD WRMFNT FM CNTL IA...ACRS SRN WI INTO NRN MI
WITH DWPTS ALG FNT NEAR 80. DWPTS ALSO APRCHG 80 ACRS WRN IND WITH MID
70S ACRS ERN IN/WRN OH. WITH SFC TMPS IN THE UPR 80S/LWR 90S...AMS ACRS
RGN VERY UNSTBL THIS AFTN WITH MODIFIED 12Z SNDG GIVING SFC CAPES OF
ARND 5000 J/KG. LLVL WAA HAS PUSHED 7H TMPS TO ARND +11 ACRS AREA WITH
8H ARND +20. THIS SHUD KP THINGS CAPPED THRU THIS AFTN. WLY 8H FLOW WL
CONT INTO TNGT BFR WKNG LATE TNGT. THETA-E AXIS NOSING INTO W CNTRL OH
TNGT ALG WITH SOME LLVL MSTR CONV ACRS NW OH...SO CHC POPS IN ORDER
ACRS LIMA AND CMH AREA OVRNGT ALG NRN EDGE OF THETA-E GRAD. OTHERWS...
FEEL FA WL RMN DRY WITH PRTLY CLDY N/MSTLY CLR S.

BNDRY WL SAG SLOWLY S NXT CPL DAYS...MOVG INTO FA ON MON. WLY LLVL FLOW
WL CONT ON SUN WITH LTL CHG IN 8H/7H TMPS. THUS...ANY TSTM ACTVTY SHUD
RMN ISOLTD WITH BEST CHC ACRS N. PERHAPS A LTL BETTER CHC ON MON ACRS
AREA AS BNDRY PUSHES S. NOT MUCH COOLING THO IF ANY AT 7H...SO IT MAY
BE TUF TO GET MUCH GOING. FOR NOW THO...LOW CHC POPS SEEM RSNBL FOR
MON.

TMPS TDA WRMED UP NICELY AND SHUD SEE SIM TMPS ON SUN. PERHAPS A LTL
COOLER ON MON ACRS N...OTHRWS CONTG HOT. WITH HIGH DWPTS...HEAT INDICES
WL BE CLOSE TO ADV CRIT AGN ON SUN.

CVG 73/93/72/93 1112
CMH 72/93/71/91 1313
DAY 73/93/71/92 1213

LOTT

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 26, 4:10 PM EDT, 2 hours 58 minutes before

OHZ015-016-024>026-034-035-042>046-051>056-060>065-070>074-077>082-
088-089-KYZ088>100-INZ050-058-059-066-073>075-080-271200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
410 PM EDT SAT JUL 26 1997

...HOT AND HUMID CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH SUNDAY...

HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE REGION WILL KEEP TEMPERATURES WARM THROUGH
SUNDAY. LOWS TONIGHT WILL ONLY FALL INTO THE LOWER TO MIDDLE 70S WITH
HIGHS ON SUNDAY CLIMBING INTO THE LOWER TO MIDDLE 90S.

MOIST AIR WILL COMBINE WITH THE WARM TEMPERATURES TO RESULT IN VERY
HUMID CONDITIONS.

CONDITIONS WILL BE VERY MUGGY TONIGHT. ON SUNDAY...HEAT INDEX VALUES
WILL APPROACH 105 DEGREES. THE HEAT INDEX IS A MEASURE OF THE COMBINED
EFFECT OF THE HEAT AND HUMIDITY ON THE HUMAN BODY.

BE SURE TO DRINK PLENTY OF LIQUIDS. IF OUTSIDE...STAY OUT OF THE SUN AS
MUCH AS POSSIBLE AND BE SURE TO DRESS IN LIGHT CLOTHING. INSIDE...USE
AIR CONDITIONING OR FANS.

LOTT

Special weather statement, Jul 26, 6:54 PM EDT, 14 minutes before

OHZ015-016-024>026-035-043>046-051>056-062>065-072>074-079>082-
088-270400-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
654 PM EDT SAT JUL 26 1997

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR WEST CENTRAL OHIO -
THE NORTHERN MIAMI VALLEY - PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST OHIO- CENTRAL OHIO
AND SOUTH CENTRAL OHIO...

HOT AND VERY HUMID AIR HAS MOVED INTO OHIO TODAY. THIS INCREASE IN
HEAT AND HUMIDITY HAS CAUSED THE AIRMASS OVER THIS AREA TO BECOME
VERY UNSTABLE. A WARM FRONT THAT MARKS THE LEADING EDGE OF THIS
HUMID AIR EXTENDS FROM NEAR CLEVELAND TO COLUMBUS TO SOUTH CENTRAL
OHIO. THIS BOUNDARY WILL BE THE FOCUS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF
ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS. THE MAIN
SEVERE WEATHER THREATS ARE DAMAGING WINDS AND FLOODING.

IT IS DANGEROUS TO BE OUTDOORS WHILE A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IS IN
PROGRESS. DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...AND
DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE. SEEK SHELTER IN A BUILDING OR A
VEHICLE. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE OPEN...STAY AWAY FROM TOWERS AND
LARGE TREES. CROUCH NEAR THE GROUND AND COVER YOUR HEAD.

RANDALL

Special weather statement, Jul 26, 6:55 PM EDT, 13 minutes before

OHZ015-016-024>026-035-043>046-051>056-062>065-072>074-079>082-
088-270400-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
654 PM EDT SAT JUL 26 1997

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR WEST CENTRAL OHIO -
THE NORTHERN MIAMI VALLEY - PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST OHIO- CENTRAL OHIO
AND SOUTH CENTRAL OHIO...

HOT AND VERY HUMID AIR HAS MOVED INTO OHIO TODAY. THIS INCREASE IN
HEAT AND HUMIDITY HAS CAUSED THE AIRMASS OVER THIS AREA TO BECOME
VERY UNSTABLE. A WARM FRONT THAT MARKS THE LEADING EDGE OF THIS
HUMID AIR EXTENDS FROM NEAR CLEVELAND TO COLUMBUS TO SOUTH CENTRAL
OHIO. THIS BOUNDARY WILL BE THE FOCUS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF
ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS. THE MAIN
SEVERE WEATHER THREATS ARE DAMAGING WINDS AND FLOODING.

IT IS DANGEROUS TO BE OUTDOORS WHILE A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IS IN
PROGRESS. DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...AND
DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE. *SEEK SHELTER IN A BUILDING OR A
VEHICLE. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE OPEN...STAY AWAY FROM TOWERS AND
LARGE TREES. CROUCH NEAR THE GROUND AND COVER YOUR HEAD.

RANDALL

The office that day

Everything else NWS Wilmington, OH issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 26, 6:42 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILN	Licking	48 min
Jul 26, 7:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILN	Delaware	31 min
Jul 26, 7:43 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	ILN	Fairfield	62 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Ohio, 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.