Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 15, NWS Chicago, IL
NWS Chicago, IL issued this tornado warning at Aug 16, 1997, 7:09 PM CDT for LaPorte County, Indiana. It was in force for 36 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
- Aug 16, 1997, 7:09 PM CDT (00:09 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 16, 1997, 7:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 36 min
- Issued by
- NWS Chicago, IL
- Area
- Whole counties
County LaPorte County, IN
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 16, 7:30 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | La Porte, IN | A short and narrow tornado tore a path through a corn field. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 16, 5:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 00:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 220 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
- 5712 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -3 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 995 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 15 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 98 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 317 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
368 WFUS1 KCHI 170011 RRA TORCHI INC091-170045- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 709 PM CDT SAT AUG 16 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 745 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTHWEST INDIANA ...NORTHERN LA PORTE COUNTY AND THE ADJACENT WATERS OF SOUTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN AT 707 PM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER SOUTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN ABOUT 4 MILES NORTH OF MICHIGAN CITY. THIS STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH. IT WILL MOVE ONSHORE NEAR LONG BEACH. GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR ALLSOPP
The office that day
Everything else NWS Chicago, IL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 16, 7:48 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | LaPorte, Saint Joseph | 42 min |
| Aug 16, 7:59 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Saint Joseph | 31 min |
| Aug 16, 8:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Elkhart | 29 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.