Alert archive / Wisconsin / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Milwaukee, WI

May 15, 1998Lafayette County, Wisconsin

NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this tornado warning at May 15, 1998, 7:28 PM CDT for Lafayette County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 62 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, 7:28 PM CDT (00:28 UTC)
Expired: May 15, 1998, 8:30 PM CDT
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Milwaukee, WI
Area: Whole counties

County Lafayette County, WI

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 122 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:29 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, 7:45 PM CDT	Tornado F2	Benton, WI	A supercell thunderstorm, after dropping a couple tornadoes in northeast Iowa, eventually moved northeast into Lafayette county, creating another tornado. This tornado touched down just southwest of Benton and hopped/skipped northeast for 20 miles. It caused

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, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 260 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 160028 RRA
TORMKE
WIC065-160130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
728 PM CDT FRI MAY 15 1998

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

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  LAFAYETTE COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN

* UNTIL 830 PM CDT

* AT 725 PM... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO JUST SOUTH OF DUBUQUE IOWA... MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

* THE TO
RNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  LEAD MINE AT 745 PM
  SHULLSBURG AT 750 PM
  DARLINGTON AT 800 PM

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, 7:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Iowa	64 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

Tornado Warnings in Wisconsin, 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.