Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Watches in 1998

Tornado Watch 129

March 28, 199813 counties in Illinois; 40 counties in Indiana; 7 counties in Kentucky

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 28, 1998, 1:00 AM CST for 13 counties in Illinois; 40 counties in Indiana; 7 counties in Kentucky. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 28, 1998, 1:00 AM CST (07:00 UTC)
Expired: Mar 28, 1998, 5:00 AM CST
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 60 counties

Clark County, IL, Crawford County, IL, Edwards County, IL, Gallatin County, IL, Hamilton County, IL, Hardin County, IL, Lawrence County, IL, Richland County, IL, Saline County, IL, Wabash County, IL, Wayne County, IL, White County, IL, Williamson County, IL, Bartholomew County, IN, Brown County, IN, Clay County, IN, Crawford County, IN, Daviess County, IN, Decatur County, IN, Dubois County, IN, Fayette County, IN, Gibson County, IN, Greene County, IN, Hancock County, IN, Harrison County, IN, Hendricks County, IN, Jackson County, IN, Jennings County, IN, Johnson County, IN, Knox County, IN, Lawrence County, IN, Marion County, IN, Martin County, IN, Monroe County, IN, Morgan County, IN, Orange County, IN, Owen County, IN, Parke County, IN, Perry County, IN, Pike County, IN, Posey County, IN, Putnam County, IN, Rush County, IN, Scott County, IN, Shelby County, IN, Spencer County, IN, Sullivan County, IN, Vanderburgh County, IN, Vermillion County, IN, Vigo County, IN, Warrick County, IN, Washington County, IN, Wayne County, IN, Breckinridge County, KY, Daviess County, KY, Hancock County, KY, Henderson County, KY, McLean County, KY, Union County, KY, Webster County, KY

Warnings issued inside it

3 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 28, 1:54 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Daviess, Knox	36 min
Mar 28, 4:20 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILN	Fayette, Wayne	30 min
Mar 28, 4:25 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Orange	15 min

The nearest sounding before it

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 00:00Z, 7.0 hours before the alert went out and 212 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: 1945 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 223 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 290 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.

360 
WWUS9 KMKC 280639
SEL9  
MKC WW 280639
ILZ000-INZ000-KYZ000-281100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 129
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
139 AM EST SAT MAR 28 1998

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS                           
   CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN INDIANA                            
   WESTERN KENTUCKY                           

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY MORNING FROM 200 AM UNTIL 600 AM EST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 70 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 40 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF OWENSBORO KENTUCKY TO 15
MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF INDIANAPOLIS INDIANA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 127.  WATCH NUMBER 127 WILL NOT BE IN
EFFECT AFTER 200 AM EST.  CONTINUE...WW 128...

DISCUSSION...BRIEF TORNADOES POSSIBLE THIS MORNING AS UPPER LEVEL
VORT ROTATING AROUND BASE OF NE MO TROF ENHANCES ASCENT ALONG
PREFRONTAL CONVECTIVE LINE.  VERY STRONG VERTICAL SHEAR PRESENT...
WITH 50 KT SLY FLOW JUST OFF THE SURFACE VEERING TO 75 KT SW FLOW
AT 5000 FT.  DEWPOINTS ONLY IN THE LOW TO MID 50S BUT SUFFICIENT
FOR SUSTAINED UPDRAFTS GIVEN GOOD FOCUS PROVIDED BY EXISTING
CONVECTIVE LINE. 

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 380. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25040.


...CORFIDI

373,0890 395,0872 395,0845 373,0863

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 27, 6:15 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Boone, Brown, Bureau, Cass, Cook, DeKalb and 33 more	5 hr
Mar 27, 8:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Clark, Clay, Crawford, Cumberland, Edwards, Effingham and 21 more	4 hr
Mar 28, 1:45 AM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Bond, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Christian and 19 more	3 hr
Mar 27, 10:00 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Carlisle, Fulton, Graves, Hickman	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Indiana, 1998 Tornado Watches in Illinois, 1998 Tornado Watches in Kentucky, 1998 Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.