Alert archive / Kentucky / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Wilmington, OH

May 13, 1998Mason County, Kentucky

NWS Wilmington, OH issued this tornado warning at May 13, 1998, 8:30 PM EDT for Mason County, Kentucky. It was in force for 50 min. 4 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: May 13, 1998, 8:30 PM EDT (00:30 UTC)
Expired: May 13, 1998, 9:20 PM EDT
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Wilmington, OH
Area: Whole counties

County Mason County, KY

The radar

The Cincinnati radar (KILN), 92 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:30 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 13, 8:45 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Minerva, KY	Trees downed.
May 13, 8:50 PM EDT	Hail 0.75	Dover, KY
May 13, 9:25 PM EDT	Hail 2.5	Germantown, KY
May 13, 9:25 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Germantown, KY	Trees downed.

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
May 13, 4:15 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 93 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: 470 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -132 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1112 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 202 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 390 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

574 
WFUS01 KILN 140032 RRA
TORILN
KYC161-140120-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
830 PM EDT WED MAY 13 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WILMINGTON HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  MASON COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN KENTUCKY.

* EFFECTIVE UNTIL 920 PM EDT.

* AT 828 PM EDT... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 9 MILES
  NORTHWEST OF MAYSVILLE MOVING SOUTH AT 15 MPH.  THE TOWN OF
  MINERVA IS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM.

* THIS STORM IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN IN RURAL AREAS.


DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO OUTRUN A TORNADO. CARS ARE EASILY TOSSED
AROUND BY TORNADIC WINDS. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF A
TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING.

SANDLER

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 Wilmington, OH wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at May 13, 3:04 PM EDT, 5 hours 26 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 13, 3:04 PM EDT, 5 hours 26 minutes before

FORECAST COORDINATION MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
300 PM EDT WED MAY 12 1998

MODELS ALL SHOW AN INCRG AMPLITUDE RIDGE DOMINATG OUR WX THIS FCST PD.
SHORTWAVE ENERGY DIGG THE DEEP LOW IN THE WEST WL BREAK DOWN THE WRN END
OF THE RIDGE AS IT MOVES INTO THE PLAINS.  MUCH OF THE PCPN GENERATED
IN THIS AREA WL MOVE NE IN THE PREVAILG FLOW INTO THE UPPER MISS VLY/
WRN GT LKS RGN.  BELIEVE RIDGE WL PROVIDE PROTECTION THU INTO FRI BUT
COULD BE A SMALL THREAT ON FRI ACROSS NW OH IN RETURN FLOW.

IN THE NR TERM THE WX IS INTERESTG.  MANY PARAMETERS IN SYNC LT THIS
AFTN INTO THIS EVENG ACROSS WRN OH/N KY/ERN IN FOR TSRA WITH A FEW SVR
STORMS.  LIMTG FACTORS TO ORGANIZATION IS WEAK WIND SHEAR AND WEAK
BNDRY WITH LESS THAN 10 KTS OF SFC FLOW.  FNT/BNDRY LOSES DEFINITION
ACROSS FAR SRN IN.  FNT LOOKS TO BE NR IND THIS PAST HR AND LARGE CU
FIELD SHOWG UP ON SAT ACROSS CNTRL IN IS BECMG MORE CONVECTIVE LOOKG.
DWPTS DO NOT DROP OFF SIGNIFICANTLY UNTIL THE IN-IL BORDER.  HAVE
ALREADY HAD 1/2 INCH HAIL RPT EARLY THIS AFTN W OF DAY.  XPCT MORE
DVLPMENT DURG THE NEXT FEW HRS IN HIGH CAPE ENV.  NEED CHC TSRA EARLY
TNGT FOR ALL AREAS...OTHERWISE WL GO WITH A DRY FCST AT THIS PT TRYG TO
HOLD OFF PCPN INTO FRI WITH PROTECTIVE RIDGE.

FAN AND FWC TEMPS DEPART ON FRI WITH FWC WARMER.  HAVE GONE CLOSER TO
COOLER FAN ON FRI WITH AT LEAST DEBRIS CLD CVR XPCTD ESP IN THE W.

SANDLER

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 13, 7:28 PM EDT, 1 hour 2 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OHIO
728 PM EDT WED MAY 13 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0721 PM    HILLSBORO                 OH   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/13/98   HIGHLAND                       TOOK WINDSHIELDS OUT OF 3
                                          POLICE CRUISERS. REPORTED
                                          BY SHERIFFS OFFICE

HUGHES

Local storm report, May 13, 7:28 PM EDT, 1 hour 2 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OHIO
728 PM EDT WED MAY 13 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0721 PM    HILLSBORO                 OH   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/13/98   HIGHLAND                       TOOK WINDSHIELDS OUT OF 3
                                          POLICE CRUISERS. REPORTED
                                          BY SHERIFFS OFFICE

HUGHES

Local storm report, May 13, 7:36 PM EDT, 54 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OHIO
736 PM EDT WED MAY 13 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0735 PM    BETHEL                    OH   1 INCH HAIL
05/13/98   CLERMONT                       PEA TO QUARTER-SIZED HAIL
                                          REPORTED BY WEATHER
                                          SPOTTER.

Local storm report, May 13, 7:59 PM EDT, 31 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OHIO
759 PM EDT WED MAY 13 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0755 PM    6 NW WILMINGTON           OH   1 INCH HAIL
05/13/98   CLINTON                        REPORTED BY HAM RADIO
                                          SPOTTER.

Special weather statement, May 13, 8:10 PM EDT, 20 minutes before

OHZ015-016-024>026-034-035-042>046-051>056-060>065-070>074-077>082-
088-INZ050-058-059-066-073>075-080-KYZ089>100-140200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OH
810 PM EDT WED MAY 13 1998

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR AREAS NORTH OF DAYTON AND COLUMBUS
HAVE BEEN CANCELLED. THE WATCH FOR SOUTHEAST INDIANA...NORTHERN
KENTUCKY AND SOUTHWEST...CENTRAL AND SOUTH-CENTRAL OHIO CONTINUES IN
EFFECT.

STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO MOVE ACROSS PORTIONS OF
SOUTHERN OHIO. THESE STORMS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE SOUTHEAST. MANY OF
THE STORMS THIS EVENING HAVE PRODUCED LARGE HAIL...SOME THE SIZE OF
BASEBALLS. EXPECT AREAS STILL IN THE WATCH TO EXPERIENCE STRONG TO
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH AT LEAST 10 PM.

DISTEFANO

Local storm report, May 13, 8:13 PM EDT, 17 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WILMINGTON OHIO
813 PM EDT WED MAY 13 1998

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0754 PM    HILLSBORO                 OH   .75 INCH HAIL
05/13/98   HIGHLAND                       REPORTED BY HAM OPERATOR

0754 PM    HILLSBORO                 OH   WIND DAMAGE
05/13/98   HIGHLAND                       ROOF OFF AUTO DEALERSHIP

HUGHES

The office that day

Everything else NWS Wilmington, OH issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 13, 8:49 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILN	Bracken	61 min
May 13, 8:53 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILN	Kenton	62 min
May 13, 9:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILN	Robertson	61 min
May 13, 9:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILN	Mason	47 min
May 13, 9:24 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILN	Grant	51 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Kentucky, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes in 1998

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.