Alert archive / Wisconsin / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Milwaukee, WI

July 18, 1997Racine County, Wisconsin

NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this tornado warning at Jul 18, 1997, 3:27 PM CDT for Racine County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 38 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
Jul 18, 1997, 3:27 PM CDT (20:27 UTC)
Expired
Jul 18, 1997, 4:05 PM CDT
In force
38 min
Issued by
NWS Milwaukee, WI
Area
Whole counties

County Racine County, WI

The radar

The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 66 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:27 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 nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 196 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 12:00Z on 1997-07-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 12:00Z on 1997-07-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 1 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1710 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
75 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.

675 
WFUS1 KMKE 182029 RRA
TORMKE
WIC101-182105-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
327 PM CDT FRI JUL 18 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  WESTERN RACINE COUNTY - SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN

* UNTIL 405 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  WATERFORD               BY 330 PM CDT
  ROCHESTER               BY 335 PM CDT
  KANSASVILLE             BY 345 PM CDT

* AT 325 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR AT SULLIVAN INDICATED A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO 22 MILES WEST OF RACINE OR IN THE VICINITY OF WATERFORD
  MOVING EAST SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

IF YOU ARE NEAR THIS DANGEROUS STORM...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY IN
THE BASEMENT OR LOWEST FLOOR AND INNER MOST ROOM OF A BUILDING.

DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO OUTRUN A TORNADO...CARS CAN BE EASILY TOSSED
AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS.

TH/WB

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 18, 1:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXDane59 min
Jul 18, 2:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXKenosha, Walworth63 min
Jul 18, 2:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXKenosha, Walworth57 min
Jul 18, 2:49 PM CDTTornado WarningMKXWalworth46 min
Jul 18, 3:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXRacine, Walworth63 min
Jul 18, 3:33 PM CDTTornado WarningMKXKenosha47 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Wisconsin, 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.