Alert archive / Indiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 280, NWS Northern Indiana

December 6, 1998LaGrange County, Indiana; Branch County, Michigan

NWS Northern Indiana issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Dec 6, 1998, 9:32 PM EST for LaGrange County, Indiana; Branch County, Michigan. It was in force for 43 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: Dec 6, 1998, 9:32 PM EST (02:32 UTC)
Expired: Dec 6, 1998, 10:15 PM EST
In force: 43 min
Issued by: NWS Northern Indiana
Area: Whole counties

Counties LaGrange County, IN, Branch County, MI

The radar

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 60 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:34 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
Dec 6, 10:00 PM EST	Thunderstorm Wind	Coldwater, MI	SEVERAL TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN.

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 nearest sounding before it

Detroit, MI (KDTX), launched 00:00Z, 2.5 hours before the alert went out and 182 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 631 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 78 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 52 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 163 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

132 
WUUS53 KIWX 070230 RRA
SVRFWA
INC085-087-103-113-169-183-MIC023-070315-

BULLETIN- EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
932 PM EST SUN DEC 6 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTHERN INDIANA HAS ISSUED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES:

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  BRANCH COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL LOWER MICHIGAN
  KOSCIUSKO COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL INDIANA
  LAGRANGE COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN INDIANA
  MIAMI COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL INDIANA
  NOBLE COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN INDIANA
  WABASH COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL INDIANA
  WHITLEY COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL INDIANA

* UNTIL 1015 PM EST (1015 PM EST)

A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH DAMAGING WINDS ARE LOCATED FROM
LAGRANGE TO WARSAW TO PERU. THESE STORMS ARE MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH.
SOME OF THE LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THESE STORMS:

LAGRANGE
ABION
WARSAW
PERU
WABASH


WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH ARE LIKELY  SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.

JAL

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 Dec 6, 2:02 PM EST, 7 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 6, 2:02 PM EST, 7 hours 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
202 PM EST SUN DEC 6 1998

PROBLEM OF THE DAY IS TSTMS.

CDFNT CONTG TO PUSH SLOWLY EAST ACRS SRN LM AND NE IL ATTM. ADAP
LIFTED INDEXES DOWN TO -2 TO -4 OVR THE CWA WITH MOD MOISTURE
CONVERGENCE ALONG AND AHD OF FNT FM NRN IND TO CENTRAL IL. THREAT OF
THUNDERSTORMS TO CONT ACROSS THE AREA INTO TNGT AS FRONT MOVES
SLOWLY EAST ACRS THE AREA. SOME STORM TOPS THIS AFTN OVR 30K FT ON
KIWX 88D WITH VILS >35. NOT MUCH SHEAR BUT DOPPLER INDICATING
PERSISTANT MINIMAL MESOCYCLONES WITH STORMS. EXPECT THERE WILL
CONT TO BE SOME HAIL PRODUCERS INTO THE EVE BUT NO DAMAGING WINDS
WITH THUNDERSTORMS.

NGM HAS HANDLED THE SYNOPTIC PATTERN BEST PAST COUPLE OF DAYS
AND WILL CONT TO FOLLOW. FRONT EXPECTED TO MOVE TO THE EAST OF
THE AREA OVERNIGHT WHILE DRY SLOT ASSOCD WITH S/WV LIFTG NE FM
SRN PLAINS WORKS INTO CWA. NEXT S/WV ROTATING ARND BASE OF TROF
MON SHD KICK OFF ANOTHER ROUND OF OVER-RUNNING RAIN ALONG FRONT. NRN
EDGE OF THIS PRECIP COULD REACH THE SE PORTION OF OUR CWA MON
AFTN/NIGHT. APPEARS AT THIS TIME WILL NOT BE COLD ENUF FOR FROZEN
PRECIP...BUT WILL BE CLOSE.

SBN CC 042/043 032/039 025 01923
FWA CC 045/045 035/039 025 01944
AOH CC 048/049 038/041 026 01955

.IWX...NONE.

JT

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 6, 8:40 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Elkhart	35 min
Dec 6, 9:32 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Kosciusko, Miami, Wabash, Whitley	43 min
Dec 6, 9:32 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Noble	43 min
Dec 6, 9:52 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Steuben	48 min
Dec 6, 9:52 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Allen, Grant, Huntington, Wells	48 min
Dec 6, 9:52 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	DeKalb	48 min
Dec 6, 10:31 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Adams	44 min
Dec 6, 10:31 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Blackford, Jay	44 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Indiana, 1998 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Michigan, 1998 Every 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.