Alert archive / Michigan / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 1, NWS Marquette, MI
NWS Marquette, MI issued this tornado warning at Aug 15, 1997, 10:35 PM CDT for Iron County, Michigan. It was in force for 30 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 15, 1997, 10:35 PM CDT (03:35 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 15, 1997, 11:05 PM CDT
- In force
- 30 min
- Issued by
- NWS Marquette, MI
- Area
- Whole counties
County Iron County, MI
The radar
The Marquette radar (KMQT), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:34 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 15, 10:45 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 55 | Fortune Lake, MI | Strong thunderstorm winds downed a 20 inch diameter tree and blew tarpaper off a roof. |
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 15, 8:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 00:00Z, 3.6 hours before the alert went out and 195 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
- 690 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1171 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 67 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 102 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.1
- Supercell composite
- 1.2
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KMQT 160337 RRA TORMQT MIC071-160405- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARQUETTE MI 1135 PM EDT (1035 PM CDT) FRI AUG 15 1997 * TORNADO WARNING FOR SOUTHERN IRON COUNTY - WESTERN UPPER MICHIGAN * UNTIL 1105 PM CDT (1205 AM EDT) * SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED CRYSTAL FALLS BEWABIC STATE PARK * AT 1035 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 8 MILES WEST OF CRYSTAL FALLS. THE TORNADO WAS MOVING EAST AT 25 MILES ANP HOUR. * THE STORM WILL BE NEAR BEWABIC STATE PARK AT 1045 PM AND CRYSTAL FALLS AT 1055 PM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO...TAKE COVER NOW IN THE LOWEST FLOOR AND INNERMOST ROOM OF A STURDY BUILDING. KC
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Marquette, MI wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Aug 15, 9:43 PM CDT, 52 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 15, 9:43 PM CDT, 52 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARQUETTE MI 1040 PM EDT FRI AUG 15 1997 LATEST 88D SHOWS PCPN COVG INCRSG OVR WRN U.P. AS LEFT EXIT REGION OF VIGOROUS JET MAX/SHRTWV IN NRN PLAINS APRCHS FA. MODELS FCST SGNFT QG FORCING TO DVLP OVR WRN ZNS THIS EVNG AS INCRSG SWLY H85 FLOW OVRRUNS WARM FNT ACRS NRN WI-NR MNM AND PVA AHD OF SHRTWV IN PLAINS AFFECTS AREA. SPC HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH FOR THE SW U.P. DUE TO LO LVL WIND SHEAR ACRS THE FNTL BNDRY AND CONSIDERABLE UPR SUPPORT. HOWEVER...ADAP SHOWS A SHARP GRADIENT OF STABILITY N OF FNT WITH VERY DEEP INSTABILITY S OF WRM FNT SOMEWHAT LACKING. LO LVL NLY FLOW OFF LK SUP ON BACKSIDE OF SHRTWV THAT MOVD THRU U.P. THIS MRNG SEEMS TO HAVE STABILIZED ATMOSPHERE AND IS KEEPING WARM FNT FROM MOVG NWD DESPITE EWD MOTION OF DEEP LO PRES IN MN. BUT PW IN 1.2-1.4" RANGE WITH H85 DWPT AT MPX 15C. H5 TEMPS AT MPX VERIFIED AT -10...A FEW DEGREES COOLER THAN FCST. BEST QG FORCING FCST TO MOVE ACRS NRN U.P. OVRNGT. HOWEVER...NRN ZNS FARTHER FROM BEST MSTR AND FARTHER N OF WRM FNT...SO ONLY WDLY SCT ELEVATED TSRA LIKELY THERE AS COLD POCKET AT H5 ADVECTS EWD. ALTHOUGH E AND CNTRL ZNS DRIED OUT BEHIND SHRTWV THAT MOVD TO E TDAY...XPCT PCPN TO REDVLP AS SWLY H85 FLOW AND ASSOCIATED WAD/MSTR ADVECTION MOVES E OVRNGT. SO WL GO WITH CATEGORICAL POPS NRN ZNS BUT KEEP LIKELY ACRS THE SE BASED ON RADAR TRENDS AND FCST LOCATION IN MORE CHANNELED SIDE OF JET MAX. KDLH 88D INDICATES PCPN ENDING OVR NW WI AND IN ERN MN ASSOCIATED WITH DRY ADVECTION NR JET MAX ALF...BUT NGM INDICATES QVECTOR CNVGC WL MOVE BACK INTO SW LATER TNGT. SINCE 12Z NGM SEEMS TO BE HANDLING THIS EVENT A LTL BETTER...WL BE RELUCTANT TO COMPLETELY END PCTPN...ESPECIALLY WITH SCT SHRA LINGERING OVR NCNTRL MN. FCST MIN TEMPS LOOK RSNBL...SO WL MAKE ONLY MINOR ADJUSTMENTS. KC
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Aug 15, 8:44 PM CDT, 1 hour 51 minutes before
MIZ009>011-160700- TORNADO WATCH NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARQUETTE MI 944 PM EDT FRI AUG 15 1997 ...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT FOR SOUTHWEST UPPER MICHIGAN UNTIL 2 AM CDT... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH FOR GOGEBIC... IRON...AND DICKINSON UNTIL 2 AM CDT. THE WATCH AREA INCLUDES THE COMMUNITIES OF IRONWOOD...IRON RIVER AND IRON MOUNTAIN. THUNDERSTORMS AHEAD OF A VIGOROUS LOW PRESSURE AREA IN MINNESOTA AND NORTH OF A WARM FRONT IN NORTHERN WISCONSIN WILL MOVE ACROSS SOUTHWEST UPPER MICHIGAN TONIGHT. THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH AND HAIL UP TO ONE INCH IN DIAMENTER. ENVIRONMENTAL WINDS ALSO INDICATE THAT SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE TORNADOES. EXPECT THE THREAT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TO END BY 2 AM. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND COMMERCIAL AND PUBLIC RADIO AND TELEVISION FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS SEVERE WEATHER THREAT. SEEK SHELTER IN A CENTRAL ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A STURDY BUILDING IF SEVERE WEATHER APPROACHES. KC
Special weather statement, Aug 15, 8:45 PM CDT, 1 hour 50 minutes before
MIZ009>011-160700- TORNADO WATCH NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARQUETTE MI 944 PM EDT FRI AUG 15 1997 ...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT FOR SOUTHWEST UPPER MICHIGAN UNTIL 2 AM CDT... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH FOR GOGEBIC... IRON...AND DICKINSON UNTIL 2 AM CDT. THE WATCH AREA INCLUDES THE COMMUNITIES OF IRONWOOD...IRON RIVER AND IRON MOUNTAIN. THUNDERSTORMS AHEAD OF A VIGOROUS LOW PRESSURE AREA IN MINNESOTA AND NORTH OF A WARM FRONT IN NORTHERN WISCONSIN WILL MOVE ACROSS SOUTHWEST UPPER MICHIGAN TONIGHT. THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH AND HAIL UP TO ONE INCH IN DIAMENTER. ENVIRONMENTAL WINDS ALSO INDICATE THAT SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE TORNADOES. EXPECT THE THREAT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TO END BY 2 AM. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND COMMERCIAL AND PUBLIC RADIO AND TELEVISION FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS SEVERE WEATHER THREAT. SEEK SHELTER IN A CENTRAL ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A STURDY BUILDING IF SEVERE WEATHER APPROACHES. KC
The office that day
Everything else NWS Marquette, MI issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 15, 11:08 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MQT | Dickinson | 32 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Michigan, 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.