Alert archive / Wisconsin / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 552

July 1, 1997Dubuque County, Iowa; 31 counties in Wisconsin

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 1, 1997, 10:30 PM CDT for Dubuque County, Iowa; 31 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 1, 1997, 10:30 PM CDT (03:30 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 1997, 4:00 AM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 32 counties

Dubuque County, IA, Adams County, WI, Clark County, WI, Columbia County, WI, Crawford County, WI, Dane County, WI, Dodge County, WI, Grant County, WI, Green County, WI, Green Lake County, WI, Iowa County, WI, Jackson County, WI, Jefferson County, WI, Juneau County, WI, Lafayette County, WI, Langlade County, WI, Lincoln County, WI, Marathon County, WI, Marquette County, WI, Menominee County, WI, Monroe County, WI, Portage County, WI, Richland County, WI, Rock County, WI, Sauk County, WI, Shawano County, WI, Taylor County, WI, Vernon County, WI, Waupaca County, WI, Waushara County, WI, Winnebago County, WI, Wood County, WI

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 93 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:30 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 1, 10:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Delaware, Dubuque	59 min
Jul 1, 11:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ARX	Crawford	49 min
Jul 1, 11:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Clark	65 min
Jul 1, 11:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Dubuque	45 min
Jul 1, 11:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRB	Marathon	63 min
Jul 1, 11:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Richland	64 min
Jul 1, 11:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Grant	60 min
Jul 1, 11:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Crawford	63 min
Jul 1, 11:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ARX	Clark	47 min
Jul 1, 11:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Sauk	62 min
Jul 2, 12:08 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Lafayette	62 min
Jul 2, 12:20 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRB	Wood	65 min
Jul 2, 12:31 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	GRB	Marathon, Wood	44 min
Jul 2, 12:35 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRB	Marathon	80 min
Jul 2, 12:57 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRB	Portage	63 min
Jul 2, 12:57 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Iowa, Lafayette	63 min
Jul 2, 1:29 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Clark, Jackson	51 min
Jul 2, 1:41 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRB	Wood	64 min
Jul 2, 1:48 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRB	Marathon	72 min
Jul 2, 2:01 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRB	Portage, Shawano, Waupaca	74 min

The nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 00:00Z, 3.5 hours before the alert went out and 178 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: 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.

674 
WWUS9 KMKC 020304
SEL2  
MKC WW 020304
WIZ000-020900-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 552
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1004 PM CDT TUE JUL 1 1997

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

   WISCONSIN                          

EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY MORNING FROM 1030 PM
UNTIL 400 AM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 1/4 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 40 MILES EAST OF DUBUQUE IOWA TO 50 MILES NORTH OF
WAUSAU 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.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 550...WW 551...

DISCUSSION...INTENSE BOW ECHO SHOULD ACCELERATE ESE INTO CENTRAL
WISCONSIN DURING THE NEXT FEW HOURS. ISOLATED SUPERCELLS IN NE IA
WILL MOVE INTO SOUTHERN WI. MAIN TORNADO THREAT SHOULD BE OVER
SOUTHERN PORTION OF WATCH WITH DAMAGING WINDS LIKELY WITH THE BOW
ECHO OVER CENTRAL AND NORTHERN WI. 


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 1/4 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
500.  MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 28030.


...VESCIO

422,0910 453,0905 453,0882 422,0884

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 1, 8:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Allamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Boone, Bremer, Buchanan and 48 more	5 hr
Jul 1, 7:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Barron, Buffalo, Burnett, Chippewa, Clark, Dunn and 12 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Wisconsin, 1997 Tornado Watches in Iowa, 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.