Alert archive / Michigan / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Detroit, MI

May 5, 2003Wayne County, Michigan

NWS Detroit, MI issued this tornado warning at May 5, 2003, 7:29 PM EDT for Wayne County, Michigan. It was in force for 46 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 5, 2003, 7:29 PM EDT (23:29 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 2003, 8:15 PM EDT
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Detroit, MI
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Wayne County, MI

The radar

The Detroit radar (KDTX), 44 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:30 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 5, 5:45 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Detroit, MI (KDTX), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 45 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: 496 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 145 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 401 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.

352 
WFUS53 KDTX 052329
TORDTX
MIC163-060015-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI
728 PM EDT MON MAY 5 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DETROIT/PONTIAC HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WAYNE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN

* UNTIL 815 PM EDT

* AT 725 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 3 MILES
  NORTHWEST OF CANTON...OR 11 MILES EAST OF ANN ARBOR...MOVING EAST
  AT 40 MPH. 

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  WESTLAND...LIVONIA...ROMULUS AT 735 PM EDT
  TAYLOR AT 740 PM EDT
  REDFORD AT 745 PM EDT
  DEARBORN...LINCOLN PARK AT 750 PM EDT
  HIGHLAND PARK AT 755 PM EDT

PEOPLE IN THE PROJECTED PATH OF THE TORNADO SHOULD SEEK SHELTER
IMMEDIATELY. MOVE INSIDE A BASEMENT...OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR.

LAT...LON 4243 8355 4220 8353 4221 8274 4246 8277

$$

WAG

The office that day

Everything else NWS Detroit, MI issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 5:56 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Shiawassee	49 min
May 5, 6:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Genesee	39 min
May 5, 6:40 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Washtenaw	50 min
May 5, 6:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Livingston	40 min
May 5, 6:58 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	DTX	Genesee, Oakland	32 min
May 5, 7:09 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Lapeer	51 min
May 5, 7:12 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	DTX	Washtenaw	48 min
May 5, 7:18 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Wayne	57 min
May 5, 7:47 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Oakland	43 min
May 5, 7:53 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	DTX		82 min
May 5, 7:53 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	DTX	Macomb, Oakland	52 min
May 5, 7:57 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Saint Clair	63 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Michigan, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes in 2003

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.