Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 13, NWS Chicago, IL
NWS Chicago, IL issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1997, 8:15 PM CDT for Lake County, Porter County, Indiana. It was in force for 60 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
- May 18, 1997, 8:15 PM CDT (01:15 UTC)
- Expired
- May 18, 1997, 9:15 PM CDT
- In force
- 60 min
- Issued by
- NWS Chicago, IL
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Lake County, IN, Porter County, IN
The radar
The Chicago radar (KLOT), 73 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 8:50 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Valparaiso, IN | Trees and limbs downed throughout the county, especially southwest of Valparaiso. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 8:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 00:00Z, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 189 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
- 1314 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -31 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1926 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 28 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 104 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 292 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.1
- Supercell composite
- 8.8
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
277 WFUS1 KCHI 190114 RRA TORCHI INC089-127-190215- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 815 PM CDT SUN MAY 18 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 915 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN NORTHWEST INDIANA ...LAKE COUNTY...PORTER COUNTY AND THE ADJACENT WATERS OF SOUTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN AT 815 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THAT HAS A HISTORY OF VERY HIGH WINDS AND SMALL TORNADOES EXTENDING FROM MIDWAY AIRPORT THROUGH MOKENA AND WILMINGTON IN WILL COUNTY TO COAL CITY IN GRUNDY COUNTY. THE LINE OF STORMS WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 50 MPH AND WILL BE MOVING THROUGH LAKE AND PORTER COUNTIES IN NORTHWEST INDIANA BY 915 PM. ABANDON MOBILE HOMES GO INSIDE A NEARBY STURDY BUILDING AS A LAST RESORT LIE FLAT IN A DITCH AND COVER YOUR HEAD. &
The office that day
Everything else NWS Chicago, IL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 8:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Benton, Newton | 2 hr |
| May 18, 8:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Jasper, LaPorte, Pulaski, Starke, White | 2 hr |
| May 18, 8:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Marshall, Saint Joseph | 2 hr |
| May 18, 9:19 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Fulton, Kosciusko | 56 min |
| May 18, 9:19 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Elkhart | 56 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Indiana, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.