Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 15, NWS Louisville, KY

March 28, 1997Jefferson County, Indiana

NWS Louisville, KY issued this tornado warning at Mar 28, 1997, 8:44 PM EST for Jefferson County, Indiana. It was in force for 31 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: Mar 28, 1997, 8:44 PM EST (01:44 UTC)
Expired: Mar 28, 1997, 9:15 PM EST
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Louisville, KY
Area: Whole counties

County Jefferson County, IN

The radar

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 100 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:44 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
Mar 28, 8:47 PM EST	Tornado F1	Blocher, IN

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
Mar 28, 6:00 PM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 00:00Z, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 159 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: 275 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -85 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 623 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 61 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 282 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 290 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSDF 290146 RRA
TORSDF
INC077-290215-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
844 PM EST FRI MAR 28 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LOUISVILLE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  915 PM EST
FOR PERSONS IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH INDIANA
 
   ...JEFFERSON COUNTY
 
AT 842 PM EST...NWS DOPPLER INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR BLOCHER...WHICH IS 30 MILES NORTH OF
LOUISVILLE. THIS LINE IS MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH...AND WILL REACH HANOVER
BEFORE 855 PM EST...AND MADISON BEFORE 900 PM EST.
 
DAMAGING WINDS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE COUNTY. INDICATIONS ARE THAT A
POSSIBLE TORNADO MAY BE DEVELOPING ACROSS THE CENTRAL PORTIONS OF THE
COUNTY AS WELL.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLJOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.
 
TF/VLD

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 28, 7:02 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Jefferson	43 min
Mar 28, 7:20 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Dubois, Orange	40 min
Mar 28, 7:42 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Jefferson	33 min
Mar 28, 7:55 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Crawford, Perry	35 min
Mar 28, 7:55 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Washington	35 min
Mar 28, 8:15 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Floyd, Harrison	45 min
Mar 28, 8:16 PM EST	Tornado Warning	LMK	Clark, Scott, Washington	44 min
Mar 28, 8:35 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Clark	40 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Indiana, 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.