Alert archive / Michigan / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Northern Indiana

October 24, 2001Berrien County, Cass County, Michigan; Saint Joseph County, Indiana

NWS Northern Indiana issued this tornado warning at Oct 24, 2001, 4:46 PM EDT for Berrien County, Cass County, Michigan; Saint Joseph County, Indiana. It was in force for 59 min. 8 reports 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: Oct 24, 2001, 4:46 PM EDT (20:46 UTC)
Expired: Oct 24, 2001, 5:45 PM EDT
In force: 59 min
Issued by: NWS Northern Indiana
Area: Whole counties

Counties Saint Joseph County, IN, Berrien County, MI, Cass County, MI

The radar

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 68 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:50 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
Oct 24, 4:50 PM EDT	Tornado F3	Crumstown, IN	This tornado touched down just southwest of Crumstown in St Joseph county Indiana and moved northeast into Berrien county Michigan (see Storm Data for Michigan, Extreme Southwest for more information on the end portion of this tornado). In St Joseph county Ind
Oct 24, 4:53 PM EDT	Tornado F0	Westfield, IN	Tornado touched down on the north side of Wanatah in Laporte county and moved northeast into St Joseph county 4 miles east of Rolling Prairie. One woman was killed 4 miles east of Laporte in her mobile home where F2 damage occurred. Most damage was F1 with an
Oct 24, 5:00 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Buchanon, MI	Law enforcement reported trees down in Buchanon
Oct 24, 5:05 PM EDT	Tornado F1	Osceola, IN
Oct 24, 5:05 PM EDT	Tornado F2	Mishawaka, IN
Oct 24, 5:10 PM EDT	Tornado F1	Niles, MI
Oct 24, 5:15 PM EDT	Tornado F1	Edwardsburg, MI
Oct 24, 5:24 PM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Osceola, IN	HAM radio operator reported trees down near Osceola.

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
Oct 24, 4:15 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr
Oct 24, 12:45 PM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Detroit, MI (KDTX), launched 12:00Z, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 252 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: 227 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 511 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 105 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 80 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

602 
WFUS53 KIWX 242048
TORFWA
INC141-MIC021-027-242145-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
446 PM EDT WED OCT 24 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTHERN INDIANA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  ST. JOSEPH COUNTY IN INDIANA
  SOUTHEASTERN BERRIEN COUNTY IN MICHIGAN
  CASS COUNTY IN MICHIGAN

* UNTIL 545 PM EDT(445 PM EST)

* AT 446 PM EDT(346 PM EST)...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER 
  RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 8 MILES SOUTHWEST OF NEW 
  CARLISLE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO ARE...
  NEW CARLISLE
  SOUTH BEND
  GALIEN
  BUCHANAN
  NILES
  DOWAGIAC
  EAU CLAIRE

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. IF NO
BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. THEY
WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST
OFFICE IN NORTHERN INDIANA.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Northern Indiana issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 24, 5:34 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	IWX	Saint Joseph	46 min
Oct 24, 6:16 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Branch	44 min
Oct 24, 6:28 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	IWX	Hillsdale	62 min
Oct 24, 3:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	LaPorte	40 min
Oct 24, 4:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Pulaski, Starke, White	24 min
Oct 24, 4:12 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	IWX	LaPorte	48 min
Oct 24, 4:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Pulaski, Starke, White	18 min
Oct 24, 4:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Cass, Fulton	49 min
Oct 24, 4:41 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Marshall	49 min
Oct 24, 5:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Miami, Wabash	54 min
Oct 24, 5:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Elkhart, Kosciusko	54 min
Oct 24, 5:18 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	IWX	Kosciusko	62 min
Oct 24, 5:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Grant, Huntington, Whitley	63 min
Oct 24, 5:27 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	LaGrange, Noble	63 min
Oct 24, 5:45 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	IWX	Noble	45 min
Oct 24, 5:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Allen, DeKalb	51 min
Oct 24, 6:04 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	IWX	DeKalb, Steuben	46 min
Oct 24, 6:10 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	IWX	Blackford, Jay, Wells	50 min
Oct 24, 6:10 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	IWX	Adams	50 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Michigan, 2001 Tornado Warnings in Indiana, 2001 Every tornado warning in 2001 Tornadoes in 2001

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.