Alert archive / Ohio / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 11, NWS Northern Indiana

July 20, 2003Williams County, Ohio; Hillsdale County, Michigan

NWS Northern Indiana issued this tornado warning at Jul 20, 2003, 3:45 PM EDT for Williams County, Ohio; Hillsdale County, Michigan. It was in force for 60 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: Jul 20, 2003, 3:45 PM EDT (19:45 UTC)
Expired: Jul 20, 2003, 4:45 PM EDT
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Northern Indiana
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Hillsdale County, MI, Williams County, OH

The radar

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 106 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:45 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
Jul 20, 2:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Detroit, MI (KDTX), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 140 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: 1593 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 92 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 118 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.

126 
WFUS53 KIWX 201945
TORIWX
MIC059-OHC171-202045-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
342 PM EDT SUN JUL 20 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTHERN INDIANA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  HILLSDALE COUNTY IN MICHIGAN
  WILLIAMS COUNTY IN OHIO

* UNTIL 445 PM EDT

* AT 342 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 10 MILES NORTH OF         
  PIONEER...MOVING SOUTH SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE...
  FRONTIER
  CAMDEN
  PIONEER
  WALDRON
  EDON
  ALVORDTON
  BLAKESLEE
  MONTPELIER
  BRYAN

THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. 
STRONG ROTATION IS INDICATED ON RADAR AND A TORNADO COULD OCCUR AT 
ANYTIME. SPOTTERS INDICATE A WALL CLOUD AND STRONG ROTATION 5 MILES 
SOUTHWEST OF HILLSDALE. 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.

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 4200 8438 4200 8482 4144 8477 4144 8439

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 20, 4:12 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Fulton	63 min
Jul 20, 2:41 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	IWX	Branch, Hillsdale	64 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Ohio, 2003 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.