Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 20, NWS Louisville, KY

April 30, 1997Crawford County, Perry County, Indiana

NWS Louisville, KY issued this tornado warning at Apr 30, 1997, 8:39 PM EST for Crawford County, Perry County, Indiana. It was in force for 21 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, 8:39 PM EST (01:39 UTC)
Expired: Apr 30, 1997, 9:00 PM EST
In force: 21 min
Issued by: NWS Louisville, KY
Area: Whole counties

Counties Crawford County, IN, Perry County, IN

The radar

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 58 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:42 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, 5:30 PM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr
Apr 30, 6:30 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 00:00Z, 1.7 hours before the alert went out and 229 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 010139 RRA
TORSDF
INC123-025-010215-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
939 PM EDT (839 PM EST) WED APR 30 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LOUISVILLE HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1000 PM EDT (900 PM EST)
FOR PERSONS IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH INDIANA
 
   ...PERRY COUNTY...CRAWFORD COUNTY
 
AT 835 PM EST WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 45
MILES WEST OF LOUISVILLE NEAR SASSAFRAS.  SOME CITIES IN THE PATH OF THE
STORM ARE ST.CROIX IMMEDIATELY AND GRANTSBURG AND SULPHUR BETWEEN 845
AND 900 PM EST.
 
THE STORM WAS MOVING TO THE EAST AT 50 MPH.
 
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 CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.Z
 
 
RNK

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, 8:25 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Perry	35 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

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.