Alert archive / Wisconsin / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 23, NWS Milwaukee, WI

June 15, 1997Columbia County, Marquette County, Wisconsin

NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 15, 1997, 4:38 PM CDT for Columbia County, Marquette County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 62 min. 4 reports 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: Jun 15, 1997, 4:38 PM CDT (21:38 UTC)
Expired: Jun 15, 1997, 5:40 PM CDT
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Milwaukee, WI
Area: Whole counties

Counties Columbia County, WI, Marquette County, WI

The radar

The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 100 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:38 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
Jun 15, 4:55 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Wisconsin Dells, WI
Jun 15, 5:10 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Oxford, WI
Jun 15, 5:15 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Glenoak, WI
Jun 15, 5:25 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Pardeeville, WI

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
Jun 15, 4:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 12:00Z, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 137 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1848 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 106 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 120 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

240 
WUUS1 KMKE 152138 RRA
SVRMKE
WIC021-077-152240-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
438 PM CDT SUN JUN 15 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  COLUMBIA COUNTY - SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN
  MARQUETTE COUNTY - CENTRAL WISCONSIN

* UNTIL 540 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  WESTFIELD
  OXFORD
  PORTAG
  HARMONY GROVE

* AT 430 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LINE
  OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS 10 MILES WEST OF WESTFIELD TO 15 MILES
  WEST OF PORTAGE. THE LINE OF STORMS WAS MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH AND
  WILL MOVE INTO CENTRAL MARQUETTE AND COLUMBIA COUNTIES BY 510 PM.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH YOU SHOULD MOVE
INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING. DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS. DO NOT USE
TELEPHONES OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL
THE STORM HAS PASSED.

DAVIS/HENTZ

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, Jun 15, 10:56 AM CDT, 5 hours 42 minutes before

WIZ046-047-051-052-056>060-062>072-160355-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
1056 AM CDT SUN JUN 15 1997

...LOW RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING AND
TONIGHT...
...FOR SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN...

THREAT...
LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.

DISCUSSION...
THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER SOUTH CENTRAL AND
SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN AFTER 4 PM...AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES
WISCONSIN. THE FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE STATE OVERNIGHT. ISOLATED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THIS EVENING AND
OVERNIGHT...AHEAD OF THE FRONT.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION...
STORM SPOTTER GROUPS MAY NEED TO BE ACTIVATED AFTER 6PM
THIS AFTERNOON.

MK

Special weather statement, Jun 15, 10:57 AM CDT, 5 hours 41 minutes before

WIZ046-047-051-052-056>060-062>072-160355-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
1056 AM CDT SUN JUN 15 1997

...LOW RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING AND
TONIGHT...
...FOR SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN...

THREAT...
LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.

DISCUSSION...
THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER SOUTH CENTRAL AND
SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN AFTER 4 PM...AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES
WISCONSIN. THE FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE STATE OVERNIGHT. ISOLATED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THIS EVENING AND
OVERNIGHT...AHEAD OF THE FRONT.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION...
STORM SPOTTER GROUPS MAY NEED TO BE ACTIVATED AFTER 6PM
THIS AFTERNOON.

MK

The office that day

Everything else NWS Milwaukee, WI issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 15, 3:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Sauk	59 min
Jun 15, 4:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Iowa	62 min
Jun 15, 4:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Sauk	58 min
Jun 15, 5:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Green Lake	60 min
Jun 15, 5:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Dane	65 min
Jun 15, 5:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Iowa, Lafayette	60 min
Jun 15, 5:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Dodge, Fond du Lac	67 min
Jun 15, 5:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Columbia	47 min
Jun 15, 6:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Jefferson	57 min
Jun 15, 6:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Dane	48 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Wisconsin, 1997 Every 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.