Alert archive / Wisconsin / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 514

June 24, 19974 counties in Minnesota; 38 counties in Wisconsin

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 24, 1997, 1:45 PM CDT for 4 counties in Minnesota; 38 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 24, 1997, 1:45 PM CDT (18:45 UTC)
Expired: Jun 24, 1997, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 42 counties

Houston County, MN, Pine County, MN, Wabasha County, MN, Winona County, MN, Adams County, WI, Barron County, WI, Buffalo County, WI, Burnett County, WI, Chippewa County, WI, Clark County, WI, Douglas County, WI, Dunn County, WI, Eau Claire County, WI, Fond du Lac County, WI, Green Lake County, WI, Iron County, WI, Jackson County, WI, Juneau County, WI, La Crosse County, WI, Langlade County, WI, Lincoln County, WI, Marathon County, WI, Marquette County, WI, Monroe County, WI, Oneida County, WI, Pepin County, WI, Pierce County, WI, Polk County, WI, Portage County, WI, Price County, WI, Rusk County, WI, Saint Croix County, WI, Sawyer County, WI, Taylor County, WI, Trempealeau County, WI, Vernon County, WI, Vilas County, WI, Washburn County, WI, Waupaca County, WI, Waushara County, WI, Winnebago County, WI, Wood County, WI

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 171 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:49 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.

Warnings issued inside it

7 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 24, 3:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRB	Wood	46 min
Jun 24, 4:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Marquette	32 min
Jun 24, 4:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRB	Portage, Waushara	49 min
Jun 24, 4:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Adams	18 min
Jun 24, 4:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRB	Marathon, Waupaca	45 min
Jun 24, 5:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Fond du Lac	45 min
Jun 24, 5:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRB	Langlade	38 min

The nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 12:00Z, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 211 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: 1293 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -49 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1072 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 46 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

322 
WWUS9 KMKC 241808
SEL4  
MKC WW 241808
WIZ000-250100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 514
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
108 PM CDT TUE JUN 24 1997

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   NORTHERN AND CENTRAL WISCONSIN                          

EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 145 PM UNTIL 800
PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 3/4 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 90 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 110 MILES NORTH OF EAU CLAIRE WISCONSIN TO 30 MILES
SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF CAMP DOUGLAS WISCONSIN.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.


DISCUSSION...SURFACE LOW AND TRAILING COLD FRONT WILL ADVANCE
TOWARD WI WITH BACKING LOW LEVEL FLOW AND 50 KT MID LEVEL WESTERLY
FLOW INCREASING REGIONAL HELICITIES. 2500 TO 3500 J/KG CAPES
INDICATES HIGH INSTABILITY WITH POTENTIAL FOR A FEW TORNADIC
SUPERCELLS.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 3/4 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
550.  MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25045.


...ROGASH

462,0893 433,0881 433,0915 462,0932

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 23, 11:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Aitkin, Becker, Beltrami, Carlton, Cass, Clay and 15 more	6 hr
Jun 24, 5:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Brown, Calumet, Dodge, Door, Florence, Fond du Lac and 22 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Wisconsin, 1997 Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 1997 Every tornado watch 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.