Alert archive / Indiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 92, NWS Louisville, KY

April 30, 1997Perry County, Indiana

NWS Louisville, KY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 30, 1997, 8:25 PM EST for Perry County, Indiana. 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: Apr 30, 1997, 8:25 PM EST (01:25 UTC)
Expired: Apr 30, 1997, 9:00 PM EST
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Louisville, KY
Area: Whole counties

County Perry County, IN

The radar

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 62 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:27 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
Apr 30, 9:00 PM EST	Tornado F1	Bristow, IN	An F1 tornado cut a 15 mile path across north central Perry county. The hardest hit areas were Apalona and Branchville. 2 mobile homes were destroyed in Apalona, and numerous roofs were lifted off houses in Branchville. Also, numerous trees were blown down wit

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
Apr 30, 6:30 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 00:00Z, 1.4 hours before the alert went out and 217 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: 70 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -236 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1685 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 308 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 433 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSDF 010124 RRA
SVRSDF
INC123-010200-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
925 PM EDT (825 PM EST) WED APR 30 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LOUISVILLE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1000 PM EDT (900 PM EST)
FOR PERSONS IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH INDIANA
 
   ...PERRY COUNTY
 
DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE LIKELY.
 
AT 920 PM EDT/820 PM EST...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ABOUT 45 MILES WEST OF LOUISVILLE
NEAR THE SPENCER/PERRY COUNTY LINE. THE LINE OF STORMS IS MOVING EAST
AT 40 TO 50 MPH. THESE STORMS WILL HIT THE TOWNS OF BANDON..GATCHEL..
AND GERALD BEFORE 940 PM EDT/840 PM EST...AND MT PLEASANT AROUND 945 PM
EDT/845 PM EST.
 
THIS ARE DANGEROUS STORMS.  IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH...MOVE TO
SHELTER...PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING.  ONCE INSIDE...
STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. DO NOT GO NEBAR DOWNED POWER LINES.
 
FUNK

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

Special weather statement, Apr 30, 5:35 PM EST, 2 hours 50 minutes before

INZ076>079-083-010400-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
635 PM EDT WED APR 30 1997

...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN AFFECT FOR PARTS OF SOUTHERN INDIANA UNTIL
12 MIDNIGHT EDT...
A TORNADO WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNITES OF
SOUTHERN INDIANA...DUBOIS...ORANGE...WASHINGTON...SCOTT...AND
JEFFERSON. STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WERE DEVELOPING RAPIDLY
ACROSS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...AND THE POTENTIAL FOR SOME OF THESE
STORMS TO PRODUCE ISOLATED TORNADOES DOES EXIST THIS EVENING.
YOU SHOULD MONITOR THE WEATHER IS EVENING.

MCT

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 30, 7:58 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Dubois	32 min
Apr 30, 8:17 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Crawford, Orange	43 min
Apr 30, 8:39 PM EST	Tornado Warning	LMK	Crawford, Perry	21 min
Apr 30, 8:57 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Harrison, Washington	33 min
Apr 30, 9:02 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Clark, Floyd	43 min
Apr 30, 9:32 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Jefferson	28 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Indiana, 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.