Alert archive / Wisconsin / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 55, NWS Milwaukee, WI

July 1, 1997Sauk County, Wisconsin

NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 1, 1997, 11:58 PM CDT for Sauk County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 62 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
Jul 1, 1997, 11:58 PM CDT (04:58 UTC)
Expired
Jul 2, 1997, 1:00 AM CDT
In force
62 min
Issued by
NWS Milwaukee, WI
Area
Whole counties

County Sauk County, WI

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:00 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.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jul 2, 12:15 AM CDTThunderstorm WindReedsburg, 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Jul 1, 10:30 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 00:00Z, 5.0 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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 00:00Z on 1997-07-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 603 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 00:00Z on 1997-07-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 29 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
603 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-65 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
774 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
58 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

112 
WUUS1 KMKE 020500 RRA
SVRMKE
WIC111-020600-

BULLETIN - IMMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
1158 PM CDT TUE JUL 1 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  SAUK COUNTY - SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN

* UNTIL 100 AM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  LIME RIDGE              BY 1204 AM CDT
  HILL POINT              BY 1209 AM CDT
  PLAIN                   BY 1217 AM CDT
  LOGANVILLE              BY 1220 AM CDT
  REEDSBURG               BY 1224 AM CDT

* AT 1155 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR AT SULLIVAN INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 46 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF MADISON OR 5 MILES WEST OF
  HILL POINT MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

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.

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT. REMEMBER...THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND
OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE
WARNING.

COLLAR/DAVIS

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 2, 12:08 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXLafayette62 min
Jul 2, 12:57 AM CDTTornado WarningMKXIowa, Lafayette63 min

Nearby

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