Alert archive / Wisconsin / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1999

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 2, NWS Milwaukee, WI

February 11, 1999Sauk County, Wisconsin

NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 11, 1999, 1:12 PM CST for Sauk County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 33 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
Feb 11, 1999, 1:12 PM CST (19:12 UTC)
Expired
Feb 11, 1999, 1:45 PM CST
In force
33 min
Issued by
NWS Milwaukee, WI
Area
Whole counties

County Sauk County, WI

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:15 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
Feb 11, 1:31 PM CSTHail 1Merrimac, 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Feb 11, 1:00 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 12:00Z, 7.2 hours before the alert went out and 189 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, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 1999-02-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 1999-02-11The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 62 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
526 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
207 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 111912 RRA
SVRMKE
WIC111-111945-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
112 PM CST THU FEB 11 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SAUK IN SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN

* UNTIL 145 PM CST

* AT 110 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM FROM NEAR SAUK CITY TO ROCK SPRINGS...MOVING
  NORTHEAST AT 60 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL MOVE BE NEAR...
  BARABOO BY 120 PM CST
  LAKE DELTON 120 PM CST
  DEVILS LAKE STATE PARK 120 PM CST

DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE LIKELY. GO INSIDE A STURDY
BUILDING AND STAY AW>AY FROM WINDOWS!

$$
EISE/DAVIS

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

Special weather statement, Feb 11, 12:15 PM CST, 57 minutes before
WIZ046-047-051-052-056>060-062>072-112100-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
1215 PM CST THU FEB 11 1999

...SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST
WISCONSIN...

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AFTER 300 PM CST ACROSS
SOUTHEAST AND SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN.

DAMAGING WINDS ARE EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS.

A COLD FRONT MOVING EAST ACROSS WISCONSIN...COMBINED WITH MOIST
UNSTABLE AIR AND A STRONG JET STREAM AT THE UPPER LEVELS...WILL
PRODUCE SEVERE STORMS THIS AFTERNOON.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND LOCAL TELEVISION AND RADIO FOR
LATER WATCHES...WARNINGS AND STATEMENTS.

EISE
WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/MKX

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 11, 12:26 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXIowa, Lafayette64 min
Feb 11, 1:31 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXColumbia44 min
Feb 11, 1:41 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXGreen Lake, Marquette64 min
Feb 11, 2:23 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXJefferson, Walworth32 min
Feb 11, 2:30 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXDodge, Waukesha45 min
Feb 11, 2:40 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXWashington40 min
Feb 11, 2:58 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXKenosha, Milwaukee, Racine32 min
Feb 11, 3:01 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXOzaukee, Sheboygan34 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Wisconsin, 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.