Alert archive / Wisconsin / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2001

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 24, NWS Milwaukee, WI

May 16, 2001Ozaukee County, Wisconsin

NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 16, 2001, 1:58 AM CDT for Ozaukee County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 17 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties.

The facts

Issued: May 16, 2001, 1:58 AM CDT (06:58 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 2001, 2:15 AM CDT
In force: 17 min
Issued by: NWS Milwaukee, WI
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Ozaukee County, WI

The radar

The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 97 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:59 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 00:00Z, 7.0 hours before the alert went out and 107 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: 1322 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -281 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 714 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 212 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 440 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 21.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS53 KMKX 160659
SVRMKE
WIC089-117-160715-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
158 AM CDT WED MAY 16 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SULLIVAN HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SHEBOYGAN COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL WISCONSIN
  OZAUKEE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN

* UNTIL 215 AM CDT

* AT 158 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR BELGIUM AND PORT WASHINGTON...MOVING 
  EAST AT 25 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE FREDONIA AND CEDAR GROVE.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM...YOU SHOULD PREPARE FOR
DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH...LARGE HAIL...AND DEADLY
LIGHTNING. SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY!

HAIL UP TO ONE INCH IN DIAMETER AND WINDS GREATER THAN 60 MILES AN
HOUR ARE EXPECTED FROM THIS STORM. SEEK SHELTER IN A STURDY STRUCTURE
UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.
l
LAT...LON 4346 8797 4334 8780 4370 8721 4389 8747

HENTZ

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.

NWS Milwaukee, WI wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 15, 3:06 PM CDT, 10 hours 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 15, 3:06 PM CDT, 10 hours 52 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
306 PM CDT TUE MAY 15 2001

FORECAST FOCUS ON THUNDERSTORM CHANCES TONIGHT.

BIGGEST QUESTION THIS EVENING IS WHEN AND WHERE THE CAP WILL BREAK.
CONVECTION OVER OUR CWA COULD HAPPEN TWO WAYS. ONE WAY WOULD TO
HAVE SURFACE BASED CONVECTION THIS EVENING WITH HELP FROM THE
SURFACE BOUNDARY CLEARLY VISIBLE ON SATELLITE AND RADAR OVER THE
EAST OVERCOMING THE CAP. THE OTHER WAY CONVECTION COULD HAPPEN IS
WITH AN MCS OVERNIGHT FORMING IN MINNESOTA AND TRACKING THROUGH
WISCONSIN THROUGH THE EARLY MORNING HOURS ON WEDNESDAY OUT IN THE
EAST. THE LATTER SCENARIO LOOKS MORE LIKELY BUT WILL KEEP THINGS
OPEN ENDED IN CASE THE FORMER MATERIALIZES.

SPC HAS US IN A SLIGHT RISK TONIGHT AND WITH GOOD REASON. IF
CONVECTION BREAKS IT WILL HAVE 2500-3500 J/KG CAPES...150-250
HELICITY...AND -7 TO -8 LIFTED INDEX TO WORK WITH. MAIN THREAT
TONIGHT WILL BE FROM HIGH WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. WILL NOT MENTION
SEVERE TONIGHT DUE TO THE CAP OF ABOUT 50 J/KG.

MODELS PROGGING A BREAK IN THE ACTION FOR MOST OF WEDNESDAY AND
WEDNESDAY NIGHT WITH A BRIEF WEAK RIDGE OVER THE AREA.

THE NEXT CHANCE FOR PRECIPITATION IS ON THURSDAY WITH ANOTHER COLD
FRONT MOVING THROUGH THE STATE. AVN PRODUCING TWO DISTINCT LOWS
WITH THIS SYSTEM...ONE OVER NORTHERN CANADA AND THE OTHER OVER
CENTRAL ILLINOIS. ETA PRODUCES ONE LONG FRONT HOWEVER IT HANDLES
THE SITUATION SIMILAR IN THAT THERE ARE TWO DISTINCT PRECIPITATION
MAXIMUMS...ONE OVER SOUTHERN CANADA AND THE OTHER OVER NORTHERN
ILLINOIS WITH MOST OF THE CWA IN BETWEEN. FOR THIS REASON WILL KEEP
PRECIPITATION CHANCES RELATIVELY LOW FOR THIS PERIOD.

.MKX^...NONE.

KURIMSKI

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 1:49 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Sheboygan	26 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Wisconsin, 2001 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.