Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Northern Indiana

May 3, 1998Allen County, Indiana

NWS Northern Indiana issued this tornado warning at May 3, 1998, 3:21 PM EST for Allen County, Indiana. It was in force for 34 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: May 3, 1998, 3:21 PM EST (20:21 UTC)
Expired: May 3, 1998, 3:55 PM EST
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Northern Indiana
Area: Whole counties

County Allen County, IN

The radar

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:23 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 3, 3:21 PM EST	Tornado F0	New Haven, IN	BRIEF TOUCHDOWN ALONG ROUTE 30 AND LINCOLN HIGHWAY
May 3, 3:25 PM EST	Tornado F0	Monroeville, IN	BRIEF TOUCHDOWN

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

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 12:00Z, 8.4 hours before the alert went out and 214 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: 15 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -48 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 654 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 18 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 0 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.

000 
TTAA00 KFWA 032022 RRA
TORFWA
INC003-032055-

BULLETIN- EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
321 PM EST SUN MAY 3 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTHERN INDIANA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ALLEN COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN INDIANA

* UNTIL 355 PM EST

* AT 319 PM EST... LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTS INDICATED A TORNADO 20
  MILES EAST OF FORT WAYNE OR 3 MILES NORTHEAST OF MONROEVILLE
  MOVING NORTHWEST AT 10 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS TO BE AFFECTED INCLUDE
     TOWNLEY
     MAPLES
     ZULU
     NEW HAVEN

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE... SEEK SAFETY IN A NEARBY REINFORCED
BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT... SEEK REFUGE IN A CULVERT... DITCH OR
LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

HOLSTEN/REAUGH

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 3, 4:00 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Kosciusko	35 min
May 3, 4:10 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Fulton	35 min
May 3, 4:37 PM EST	Tornado Warning	IWX	Huntington	33 min
May 3, 5:00 PM EST	Tornado Warning	IWX	Allen	35 min
May 3, 5:03 PM EST	Flash Flood Warning	IWX	Allen	2 hr
May 3, 5:34 PM EST	Tornado Warning	IWX	Allen	36 min
May 3, 5:47 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Kosciusko, Whitley	33 min
May 3, 6:34 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Kosciusko	36 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Indiana, 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.