Alert archive / Wisconsin / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Twin Cities, MN

June 15, 1997Eau Claire County, Wisconsin

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this tornado warning at Jun 15, 1997, 4:25 PM CDT for Eau Claire County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 35 min. 3 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, 4:25 PM CDT (21:25 UTC)
Expired: Jun 15, 1997, 5:00 PM CDT
In force: 35 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Whole counties

County Eau Claire County, WI

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 101 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:27 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jun 15, 4:25 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Eau Claire, WI	Vehicle blown off highway across ditch and into adjacent field. Estimated windspeed.
Jun 15, 4:35 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Augusta, WI	Trees down, one falling on house. Estimated windspeed.
Jun 15, 4:35 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Augusta, WI	Farm elevator overturned. Silo top knocked off. Estimated windspeed.

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

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 9.4 hours before the alert went out and 183 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: 202 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -176 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1188 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 330 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 314 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.

000 
TTAA00 KMSP 152127 RRA
TORMSP
WIC035-152200-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
425 PM CDT SUN JUN 15 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  EASTERN EAU CLAIRE COUNTY - WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN

* UNTIL 500 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    AUGUSTA
    FAIRCHILD
    FOSTER

* AT 425 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A POSSIBLE TORNADO JUST WEST
  OF AUGUSTA...OR 20 MILES SOUTHEAST OF EAU CLAIRE.  THE STORM WAS
  MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!

HOWIESON

The office that day

Everything else NWS Twin Cities, MN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 15, 2:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Pierce, Saint Croix	60 min
Jun 15, 3:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Dunn	36 min
Jun 15, 3:53 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire	37 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Wisconsin, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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.