Alert archive / Kentucky / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 167, NWS Louisville, KY

August 17, 1997Clark County, Fayette County, Kentucky

NWS Louisville, KY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 17, 1997, 6:25 PM EDT for Clark County, Fayette County, Kentucky. It was in force for 35 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 17, 1997, 6:25 PM EDT (22:25 UTC)
Expired: Aug 17, 1997, 7:00 PM EDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Louisville, KY
Area: Whole counties

Counties Clark County, KY, Fayette County, KY

The radar

The Jackson,KY radar (KJKL), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:25 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
Aug 17, 6:48 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Winchester, KY	Numerous trees down.

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 17, 2:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 164 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: 39 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -211 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 934 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 51 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 131 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 KSDF 172225 RRA
SVRSDF
KYC049-067-172300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
625 PM EDT SUN AUG 17 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  CLARK COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KENTUCKY
  SOUTHERN FAYETTE COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KENTUCKY

* UNTIL 700 PM EDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  WINCHESTER BY 645 PM EDT

*AT 625 PM EDT WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES SOUTH OF LEXINGTON.  THE STORM WAS MOVING TO
THE EAST AT 40 MPH.  DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 58 MPH ARE POSSIBLE
WITH THIS STORM.

IF YOU ARE OUTSIDE OR IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM...SEEK SHELTER INSIDE
A STRONG BUILDING. AVOID WINDOWS AND STAY OFF THE TELEPHONE UNTIL
THE STORM HAS PASSED.



RNK

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.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 17, 3:28 PM EDT, 2 hours 57 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
328 PM EDT SUN AUG 17 1997

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0255 PM    LEXINGTON                 KY   WIND DAMAGE
08/17/97   FAYETTE                        MULTIPLE REPORTS OF TREES
                                          DOWN AND POWER LINES DOWN
                                          ACROSS SOUTHERN AND
                                          SOUTHEASTERN FAYETTE
                                          COUNTY. REPORTED BY POLICE
                                          DEPARTMENT.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Louisville, KY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 17, 2:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Fayette	50 min
Aug 17, 3:21 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Nicholas	24 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kentucky, 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.