Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Northern Indiana

March 20, 2003Wells County, Indiana

NWS Northern Indiana issued this tornado warning at Mar 20, 2003, 4:06 PM EST for Wells County, Indiana. It was in force for 39 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: Mar 20, 2003, 4:06 PM EST (21:06 UTC)
Expired: Mar 20, 2003, 4:45 PM EST
In force: 39 min
Issued by: NWS Northern Indiana
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Wells County, IN

The radar

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:07 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
Mar 20, 2:05 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 12:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 197 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: 1227 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 61 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 32 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -21 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 
WFUS53 KIWX 202106
TORFWA
INC179-202145-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
406 PM EST THU MAR 20 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTHERN INDIANA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WELLS COUNTY IN INDIANA

* UNTIL 445 PM EST

* AT 406 PM EST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 3 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
  UNIONDALE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE...
  OSSIAN

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.

LAT...LON 4092 8533 4069 8532 4065 8510 4093 8510

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 20, 12:10 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	LaPorte	50 min
Mar 20, 12:53 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Marshall	37 min
Mar 20, 1:07 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Kosciusko, Noble, Whitley	38 min
Mar 20, 1:46 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Whitley	29 min
Mar 20, 2:04 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	LaGrange	41 min
Mar 20, 2:15 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Noble	45 min
Mar 20, 2:42 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Allen, Huntington, Whitley	48 min
Mar 20, 3:07 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	DeKalb, Noble, Steuben	53 min
Mar 20, 3:16 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Huntington	44 min
Mar 20, 3:32 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Allen	43 min
Mar 20, 3:42 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Wells	48 min
Mar 20, 4:15 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Steuben	60 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Indiana, 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.