Alert archive / Indiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 240, NWS Northern Indiana

August 25, 1998Steuben County, Indiana; Hillsdale County, Michigan

NWS Northern Indiana issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 25, 1998, 1:52 AM EST for Steuben County, Indiana; Hillsdale County, Michigan. It was in force for 53 min. 2 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
Aug 25, 1998, 1:52 AM EST (06:52 UTC)
Expired
Aug 25, 1998, 2:45 AM EST
In force
53 min
Issued by
NWS Northern Indiana
Area
Whole counties

Counties Steuben County, IN, Hillsdale County, MI

The radar

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 88 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:54 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 25, 2:00 AM ESTThunderstorm WindReading, MITREE FELL ON A HOME WHICH SUSTAINED JUST MINOR DAMAGE.
Aug 25, 2:00 AM ESTThunderstorm WindHillsdale, MISEVERAL TREES DOWN ACROSS THE SOUTHERN THIRD OF THE COUNTY INCLUDING ONE WHOLE LINE OF POWER POLES WHICH WERE FLATTENED TO THE GROUND.

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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Aug 25, 12:00 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Detroit, MI (KDTX), launched 00:00Z, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 155 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 1998-08-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1480 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Detroit, MI at 00:00Z on 1998-08-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 41 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1480 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1317 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
41 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
52 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Northern Indiana wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 24, 9:00 PM EST, 4 hours 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 24, 9:00 PM EST, 4 hours 52 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
900 PM EST MON AUG 24 1998

LATEST KIWX RADAR SHOWING NARROW LINE OF SHRA MOVING TOWARD NW CWA.
00Z SFC ANALYSIS PLACES WEAKLY DEFINED FRONT ALONG WHERE THESE SHRA
ARE POPPING UP AND TRAILING BACK THRU S WI AND THEN DOWN THRU E IA.
18Z ETA SHOWING SHORT WAVE MOVING ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT FROM
N IL AT 06Z TO N IN BY 09Z AND THEN OVER TO NW OH AT 12Z. GOOD
THETAE RIDGE IN PLACE ACROSS OUR AREA AND STRONG UVV FIELD PROGGED
TO MOVE ACROSS 06-12Z AS WELL. 21Z RUC2 ALSO MATCHES UP WITH 18Z ETA
IN PLACING GOOD UVV AND CONVECTIVE PRECIP OVER THE AREA BY 09Z.
WITH THAT IN MIND WILL STICK WITH GOING FCST IN NORTHERN GROUP AS SPC
STILL HAS US IN A SLIGHT RISK ALTHOUGH THE MDT RISK IS SHIFTED BACK
OVER N IL. WILL BACK OFF IN SOUTHERN GROUP TO 50 POP AND REMOVE
ENHANCED WORDING.

JAL

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 25, 1:35 AM EST, 17 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
135 AM EST TUE AUG 25 1998

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

0125 AM    SOUTH BEND                IN    WIND DAMAGE
08/25/98   ST.JOSEPH                       DOORS BLOWN OFF SQUAD
                                           CAR...NUMEROUS TREES
                                           AND POWER LINES DOWN

0132 AM    COLDWATER                 MI    60 MPH TSTM GUST
08/25/98   BRANCH

0132 AM    CASSOPOLIS                MI    FLOOD
08/25/98   CASS                            MINOR URBAN FLOODING
                                           OVER ROADWAYS
Local storm report, Aug 25, 1:35 AM EST, 17 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
135 AM EST TUE AUG 25 1998

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

0125 AM    SOUTH BEND                IN    WIND DAMAGE
08/25/98   ST.JOSEPH                       DOORS BLOWN OFF SQUAD
                                           CAR...NUMEROUS TREES
                                           AND POWER LINES DOWN

0132 AM    COLDWATER                 MI    60 MPH TSTM GUST
08/25/98   BRANCH

0132 AM    CASSOPOLIS                MI    FLOOD
08/25/98   CASS                            MINOR URBAN FLOODING
                                           OVER ROADWAYS
Local storm report, Aug 25, 1:37 AM EST, 15 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
137 AM EST TUE AUG 25 1998

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

0136 AM    STURGIS                   MI    60 MPH TSTM GUST
08/25/98   ST.JOSEPH                       SPOTTER REPORT
Local storm report, Aug 25, 1:37 AM EST, 15 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
137 AM EST TUE AUG 25 1998

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

0136 AM    STURGIS                   MI    60 MPH TSTM GUST
08/25/98   ST.JOSEPH                       SPOTTER REPORT
Local storm report, Aug 25, 1:47 AM EST, 5 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
147 AM EST TUE AUG 25 1998

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

0135 AM    SOUTH BEND                IN    WIND DAMAGE
08/25/98   ST.JOSEPH                       TREES AND POWER LINES
                                           DOWN

0135 AM                              IN    WIND DAMAGE
08/25/98   ELKHART                         TREES AND POWER LINES
                                           DOWN THROUGHOUT COUNTY
Local storm report, Aug 25, 1:47 AM EST, 5 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
147 AM EST TUE AUG 25 1998

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

0135 AM    SOUTH BEND                IN    WIND DAMAGE
08/25/98   ST.JOSEPH                       TREES AND POWER LINES
                                           DOWN

0135 AM                              IN    WIND DAMAGE
08/25/98   ELKHART                         TREES AND POWER LINES
                                           DOWN THROUGHOUT COUNTY

The office that day

Everything else NWS Northern Indiana issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 25, 1:07 AM ESTTornado WarningIWXElkhart, Saint Joseph48 min
Aug 25, 1:26 AM ESTTornado WarningIWXLaGrange49 min
Aug 25, 1:31 AM ESTTornado WarningIWXElkhart34 min
Aug 25, 1:58 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXDeKalb, Noble47 min
Aug 25, 2:22 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXLaPorte48 min
Aug 25, 2:05 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXWilliams50 min
Aug 25, 2:24 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXFulton51 min
Aug 25, 2:33 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXDefiance47 min
Aug 25, 2:43 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXHenry47 min
Aug 25, 12:12 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXBerrien48 min
Aug 25, 12:19 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXCass61 min
Aug 25, 12:33 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXSaint Joseph52 min
Aug 25, 12:47 AM ESTTornado WarningIWXBerrien, Cass48 min
Aug 25, 12:58 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXBranch52 min
Aug 25, 1:17 AM ESTTornado WarningIWXBranch48 min
Aug 25, 1:22 AM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXSaint Joseph33 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Indiana, 1998Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Michigan, 1998Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.