Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 20, NWS Northern Indiana

August 26, 2003Elkhart County, Indiana

NWS Northern Indiana issued this tornado warning at Aug 26, 2003, 2:42 PM EST for Elkhart County, Indiana. It was in force for 48 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: Aug 26, 2003, 2:42 PM EST (19:42 UTC)
Expired: Aug 26, 2003, 3:30 PM EST
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Northern Indiana
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Elkhart County, IN

The radar

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 33 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:43 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
Aug 26, 1:15 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Detroit, MI (KDTX), launched 12:00Z, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 232 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: 296 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -63 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1091 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 55 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 261942
TORIWX
INC039-262030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
242 PM EST TUE AUG 26 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTHERN INDIANA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  ELKHART COUNTY IN INDIANA

* UNTIL 330 PM EST

* AT 242 PM EST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 12 MILES WEST OF
  ELKHART...MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE...
  ELKHART
  SIMONTON LAKE
  DUNLAP
  GOSHEN
  BRISTOL
  MIDDLEBURY

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 4176 8566 4155 8566 4154 8577 4155 8593
          4156 8608 4175 8608

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 26, 6:49 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Kosciusko, Marshall	41 min
Aug 26, 8:28 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Allen, Whitley	47 min
Aug 26, 9:16 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Allen	44 min
Aug 26, 10:36 AM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Allen	54 min
Aug 26, 2:11 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	LaPorte, Saint Joseph, Starke	64 min
Aug 26, 2:19 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Marshall	56 min
Aug 26, 2:28 PM EST	Tornado Warning	IWX	Saint Joseph	47 min
Aug 26, 2:34 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Elkhart, Kosciusko	56 min
Aug 26, 2:55 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	LaGrange, Noble	65 min
Aug 26, 3:15 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	DeKalb, Steuben	60 min
Aug 26, 3:25 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Whitley	65 min
Aug 26, 3:34 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Kosciusko	41 min
Aug 26, 3:50 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Allen	55 min
Aug 26, 4:29 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Adams, Huntington, Wells	76 min
Aug 26, 4:55 PM EST	Tornado Warning	IWX	Adams	65 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.