Alert archive / Wisconsin / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 8, NWS Milwaukee, WI

May 15, 1998Iowa County, Wisconsin

NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 15, 1998, 7:56 PM CDT for Iowa County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 64 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: May 15, 1998, 7:56 PM CDT (00:56 UTC)
Expired: May 15, 1998, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS Milwaukee, WI
Area: Whole counties

County Iowa County, WI

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 125 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:55 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 15, 8:15 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Mineral Pt, WI

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 15, 5:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 00:00Z, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 232 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: 577 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -445 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1364 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 194 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 195 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 KMKE 160056 RRA
SVRMKE
WIC049-160200-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
756 PM CDT FRI MAY 15 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  IOWA COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN

* UNTIL 900 PM CDT

* AT 753 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR BELMONT IN NORTHWEST LAYAFETTE COUNTY...
   MOVING NORTHEAST AT AROUND 45 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  LINDON AT 805 PM
  MINERAL POINT AT 805 PM
  DODGEVILLE AT 815 PM

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA. REMEMBER
THAT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE
TORNADOES. IF YOU ARE IN THESE AREAS... SEEK SAFETY IN A SMALL
INTERIOR ROOM AWAY FROM WINDOWS. A BASEMENT OFFERS THE BEST
PROTECTION.

MK

The office that day

Everything else NWS Milwaukee, WI issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 7:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Lafayette	62 min
May 15, 8:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Iowa	46 min
May 15, 8:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Dane, Sauk	59 min
May 15, 8:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Lafayette	45 min
May 15, 8:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Green, Rock	62 min
May 15, 9:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Columbia, Dane	63 min
May 15, 9:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Lafayette	34 min
May 15, 9:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Dodge, Jefferson, Walworth	59 min
May 15, 9:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Fond du Lac, Green Lake	60 min
May 15, 10:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Fond du Lac, Washington, Waukesha	62 min
May 15, 10:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Kenosha, Racine	62 min
May 15, 10:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Sheboygan	63 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Wisconsin, 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.