Alert archive / Indiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 39, NWS Chicago, IL
NWS Chicago, IL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 5, 1997, 2:56 PM CDT for Lake County, Indiana. It was in force for 34 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- May 5, 1997, 2:56 PM CDT (19:56 UTC)
- Expired
- May 5, 1997, 3:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 34 min
- Issued by
- NWS Chicago, IL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Lake County, IN
The radar
The Chicago radar (KLOT), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:00 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.
The watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 5, 1:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 179 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1877 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 35 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 228 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 250 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCHI 051956 RRA SVRCHI INC089-052030- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 256 PM CDT MON MAY 5 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 330 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTHWEST INDIANA ...SOUTHERN LAKE COUNTY AND THE ADJACENT WATERS OF SOUTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN AT 255 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 15 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF KANKAKEE...OR JUST NORTH OF GRANT PARK. THIS STORM IS MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH AND WILL PASS JUST SOUTH OF LOWELL BY 305 PM AND CROSS I-65 SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 2 BY 320 PM. THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL. STAY INDOORS... AWAY FROM WINDOWS! ALLSOPP
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, May 5, 11:00 AM CDT, 3 hours 56 minutes before
ILZ003>006-008-010>014-019>023-032>033-039-INZ001>005-010>016-019>020- 061100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 1100 AM CDT MON MAY 5 1997 FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL INDIANA THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING ACROSS NORTHERN ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA. AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH A VIGOROUS DISTURABANCE IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE WILL CREATE THE POTENTIAL FOR SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS. MERZLOCK
Special weather statement, May 5, 11:16 AM CDT, 3 hours 40 minutes before
ILZ003>006-008-010>014-019>023-032>033-039-INZ001>005-010>016-019>020- 061100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 1100 AM CDT MON MAY 5 1997 FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL INDIANA THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING ACROSS NORTHERN ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA. AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH A VIGOROUS DISTU&RABANCE IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE WILL CREATE THE POTENTIAL FOR SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS. MERZLOCK
Special weather statement, May 5, 2:45 PM CDT, 11 minutes before
ILZ006-012-013-019-020-052015- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 245 PM CDT MON MAY 5 1997 THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN NORTHEAST ILLINOIS ARE CLEARED FROM SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 252... THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR LAKE...KANE...DUPAGE...KENDALL AND LA SALLE COUNTIES IN NORTHEAST ILLINOIS HAS BEEN CANCELED. THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER HAS ENDED IN THESE COUNTIES BUT GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS TO 40 MPH WILL CONTINUE THIS AFTERNOON. MERZLOCK
Special weather statement, May 5, 2:48 PM CDT, 8 minutes before
ILZ006-012-013-019-020-052015- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 245 PM CDT MON MAY 5 1997 THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES IN NORTHEAST ILLINOIS ARE CLEARED FROM SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 252... THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR LAKE...KANE...DUPAGE...KENDALL AND LA SALLE COUNTIES IN NORTHEAST ILLINOIS HAS BEEN CANCELED. THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER HAS ENDED IN THESE COUNTIES BUT GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS TO 40 MPH WILL CONTINUE THIS AFTERNOON. MERZLOCK
The office that day
Everything else NWS Chicago, IL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 5, 2:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Lake | 50 min |
| May 5, 2:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Porter | 29 min |
| May 5, 3:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Jasper, Porter | 30 min |
| May 5, 3:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | LaPorte, Starke | 29 min |
| May 5, 3:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Benton | 32 min |
| May 5, 4:02 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Marshall | 43 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Indiana, 1997Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.