Alert archive / Indiana / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1999

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 18, NWS Indianapolis, IN

May 5, 1999Shelby County, Indiana

NWS Indianapolis, IN issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 5, 1999, 8:30 PM EST for Shelby County, Indiana. It was in force for 30 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 5, 1999, 8:30 PM EST (01:30 UTC)
Expired
May 5, 1999, 9:00 PM EST
In force
30 min
Issued by
NWS Indianapolis, IN
Area
Whole counties

County Shelby County, IN

The radar

The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 47 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:33 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 5, 8:43 PM ESTThunderstorm Wind 50Shelbyville, IN

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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 5, 3:00 PM ESTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 00:00Z, 1.5 hours before the alert went out and 171 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 1999-05-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1053 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 00:00Z on 1999-05-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 66 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1053 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1206 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
66 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
146 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
3.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KIND 060130 RRA
SVRIND
INC145-060200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
830 PM EST WED MAY 5 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN INDIANAPOLIS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SHELBY COUNTY IN CENTRAL INDIANA

* UNTIL 900 PM EST

* AT 830 PM EST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 15 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SHELBYVILLE NEAR
  EDINBURGH... MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  MARIETTA AT 835 PM EST
  SHELBYVILLE AT 845 PM EST

GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS! A TORNADO
WATCH IS IN EFFECT. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO
PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 5, 7:32 PM EST, 58 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
732 PM EST WED MAY 05 1999

TIME(EST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0700 PM    5 E VINCENNES             IN    WIND DAMAGE
05/05/99   KNOX                            LARGE TREE ACROSS ROAD
                                           BLOCKING TWO LANES.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Indianapolis, IN issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 5, 8:15 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDBartholomew, Brown35 min
May 5, 8:20 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDJohnson30 min
May 5, 9:42 PM ESTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDRush18 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Indiana, 1999Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1999

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.