Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 9, NWS Northern Indiana

May 3, 1998Allen County, Indiana

NWS Northern Indiana issued this tornado warning at May 3, 1998, 5:00 PM EST for Allen County, Indiana. It was in force for 35 min. 3 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, 5:00 PM EST (22:00 UTC)
Expired: May 3, 1998, 5:35 PM EST
In force: 35 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 22:03 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, 5:30 PM EST	Hail 1	New Haven, IN
May 3, 5:40 PM EST	Hail 0.75	Ft Wayne, IN	SOUTHEAST SIDE OF TOWN
May 3, 5:45 PM EST	Hail 1	Ft Wayne, IN	DOWNTOWN

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, 10.0 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.

503 
WFUS53 KIWX 032201 RRA
TORFWA
INC003-032235-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTHERN INDIANA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  ALLEN COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN INDIANA

* UNTIL 535 PM EST

* AT 459 PM EST... DOPPLER RADAR AT NORTH WEBSTER INDICATED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO IN THE VICINITY OF FORT WAYNE MOVING WEST
  NORTHWEST AT 10 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ARE...
  WALLEN                NEAR 504 PM EST
  HUNTERTOWN            NEAR 518 PM EST
  ARCOLA                NEAR 524 PM EST

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM ACT QUICKLY. SEEK SHELTER IN AN
INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

TEH/JM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 3, 3:21 PM EST	Tornado Warning	IWX	Allen	34 min
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, 5:03 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.